A comprehensive countrywide assessment of surgical capacity in resource-limited settings found severe shortages in available resources. Immediate local feedback is a useful tool for creating a baseline of surgical capacity to inform country-specific surgical development.

Background There are few established metrics to define surgical capacity in resource-limited settings. Previous work hypothesizes that the relative frequency of cesarean sections (CS) at a hospital, expressed as a proportion of total operative procedures (%CS), may serve as a proxy measure of surgical capacity. We attempted to evaluate this hypothesis as it specifically relates to hospital capacity for emergency interventions for injury. Methods We conducted a WHO survey of emergency surgical capacity at 40 Rwandan district hospitals in November 2010 and extracted annual operative volume for 2010 from the Ministry of Health centralized statistical system. We dichotomized the 40 hospitals into low and high %CS groups below and above the median proportion of CS performed. We compared low and high %CS groups across self-reported capabilities related to facility characteristics, trauma supplies, procedural capacity, and surgical training using bivariate χ2 statistics with significance indicated at p ≤ 0.05. We evaluated herniorrhaphy proportion of total procedures (%Hernia) as a representative general surgery procedure in the same manner. Results High %CS hospitals were less likely to report capability related to blood banking (p = 0.05), amputation (p = 0.04), closed fracture repair (p = 0.04), inhalational anesthesia (p = 0.05), and chest tube insertion (p = 0.05). Availability of reliable electricity was the only measure that showed statistical significance with the %Hernia measure (p = 0.02). Conclusions Cesarean section proportion shows some utility as a marker for district hospital injury-care capacity in resource-limited settings.

HighlightsAnterior cruciate ligament is an important stabilizer of the knee.Posterolateral corner resisting external rotation of the lateral side of the tibia on the femur.Tendon grafts can be autograft, allograft or xenograft.

Introduction A disparate number of occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens occur in low-income countries where disease prevalence is high and healthcare provider–per-population ratios are low. Methods In an effort to highlight the important role of healthcare worker safety in surgical capacity building in Rwanda, we measured self-reported presence of safety materials and compliance with personal protective equipment in the operating theatre as part of a nationwide survey to characterize emergency and essential surgical capacity in all government hospitals. Results We surveyed 44 hospitals. While staff report general availability of safe disposal of sharps and hazardous waste, presence of and compliance with eye protection was lacking. Staff were cognizant of prevention measures such as double-gloving and ‘safe receptacles’, as well as hospital policies for post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV following needlesticks, but there was little awareness of hepatitis exposure. Conclusions Healthcare worker safety should be a key component of hospital-level surgical capacity.

Introduction: The brachial plexus is highly variable, which is a well-known anatomical fact. Repeated observations on anatomical variations, however, constitute current trends in anatomical research. Case series: In an anatomical dissection course, three uncommon variations in the brachial plexus were identified in three young adults’ cadavers. In one case, the musculocutaneous nerve gave a branch to the median nerve, while the median nerve gave or received musculocutaneous branches in the two remaining corpses. Conclusion: Anatomical variations of the brachial plexus do occur in our setting. The cases we presented are about anatomical variations of branching patterns of the median and musculocutaneous nerves. Knowledge of those variations is essential for surgery and regional anesthesia of the upper limbs. Keywords: Anatomical variations; brachial plexus; median nerve; musculocutaneous nerve; upper limb.