Policy options for surgical mentoring: Lessons from Zambia based on stakeholder consultation and systems science

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257597
• Publication Date: 2021-09-29T18:47:15Z
• Authors: Henk Broekhuizen; Martilord Ifeanyichi; Mweene Cheelo; Grace Drury; Chiara Pittalis; Etiënne Rouwette; Michael Mbambiko; John Kachimba; Ruairí Brugha; Jakub Gajewski; Leon Bijlmakers
• Keywords: District hospital

Background Supervision by surgical specialists is beneficial because they can impart skills to district hospital-level teams. The SURG-Africa project in Zambia comprises a mentoring trial selected districts, involving two provincial-level aim of this paper explore policy options for embedding such existing structures through participatory modeling approach. Methods Four group model building workshops were held, each and central hospitals. Participants worked variety institutions had clinical and/or administrative backgrounds. Two independent reviewers compared the causal loop diagrams (CLDs) that resulted from these pairwise fashion construct an integrated CLD. Graph theory was used analyze CLD, dynamic system behavior explored using Method Analyse Relations between Variables Enriched Loops (MARVEL) method. Results establishment provincial faculty, collaboration with key stakeholders, would be necessary step coordinate sustain monitor district-level performance. Quarterly reviews at level are recommended evaluate and, if needed, adapt mentoring. District hospital administrators need closely mentee motivation. Conclusions Surgical play role scaling up surgery but its implementation complex requires designated coordination regular contact relevant stakeholders.