Human Factors Evaluation of the Universal Anaesthesia Machine: Assessing Equipment with High-Fidelity Simulation Prior to Deployment in a Resource-Constrained Environment.

Background: Anesthesia providers in low- and middle-income countries face many challenges, including poor availability of functioning equipment designed to meet their environmental, organizational, and resource constraints. These are serious global health disparities which threaten access to care and patient safety for those who receive surgical care. In this study, we conducted a simulation-based human factors analysis of the Universal Anaesthesia Machine (UAM®), a device designed to support anesthesia providers in austere medical settings.

Anesthesia Practice and Perioperative Outcomes at Two Tertiary Care Hospitals in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Background: Anesthesia in West Africa is associated with high mortality rates. Critical shortages of adequately trained personnel, unreliable electrical supply, and lack of basic monitoring equipment are a few of the unique challenges to surgical care in this region. This study aims to describe the anesthesia practice at 2 tertiary care hospitals in Sierra Leone.