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The effects of resource improvement on decision‐to‐delivery times for cesarean deliveries in a Ghanaian regional hospital
Author(s) -
Onuoha Onyi,
Ramaswamy Rohit,
Srofenyoh Emmanuel K.,
Kim Sung M.,
Owen Medge D.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2015.03.032
Subject(s) - medicine , cesarean delivery , obstetrics , resource (disambiguation) , pregnancy , genetics , biology , computer network , computer science
Objective To evaluate the effects of having a dedicated obstetric operating room (OR) on the decision‐to‐delivery interval (DDI) in a large referral hospital in Ghana. Methods An observational study was undertaken of all patients undergoing cesarean delivery at Ridge Regional Hospital, Accra, before (pre‐OR; August–September 2011) and after (post‐OR; August–September 2012) introduction of an obstetric OR. The primary outcome was the DDI. Results In total, 581 cesareans were performed in the pre‐OR period and 574 in the post‐OR period. Overall, the median DDI decreased from 259 min (interquartile range [IQR] 161–432) in the pre‐OR period to 195 min (IQR 138–319) in the post‐OR period ( P < 0.001). DDI was lower in the post‐OR period than in the pre‐OR period for both emergency (175 min [IQR 126–241] vs 220 min [IQR 146–315]; P < 0.001) and elective (1828 min [IQR 1432–2985] vs 4291 min [IQR 2992–5862]; P < 0.001) cesarean deliveries. Only one emergency cesarean—in the post‐OR period—was conducted within the recommended 30‐minute timeframe. Conclusion An obstetric OR lowered the DDI for cesarean delivery; however, a realistic timeframe for emergency cesareans in low‐income countries remains to be determined.