References
Recovery facilities in a tertiary level hospital in Lusaka, Zambia
The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka is the largest hospital in Zambia, with 1655 beds. It has several surgical specialties, whose patients recover in a theatre recovery suite. In October 2018, two of the authors (RA and LM) travelled to Lusaka to provide a quality improvement and mentorship project for the recovery nurses. The objective was to facilitate the implementation of changes in the recovery suites and to improve patient safety. While there on a two-week visit, we decided to focus on the following objectives:
The theatre suite has eight theatres, which provide a wide range of procedures in minor and major surgical specialties. These include orthopaedic, general, ear, nose and throat (ENT), plastic surgery and urology. Patients having all these kinds of procedures are brought to the recovery room for postoperative care.
The recovery room has eight bays. At present, four are used for preoperative patients and the other four for postoperative care. However, only one bay has access to oxygen therapy via a mobile oxygen concentrator. There is no oxygen therapy or suction equipment available at any of the other bays.
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