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The Value of the Checklist in Ethiopia: an interview with Dr Assefa Tesfaye

The Clean Cut program encourages teamwork from all hospital personnel, how do you fit in to this? Ever since the beginning of the program, I have been assisting with data collection, analysis, and the presentation of our results to the team on-site to continue influencing a positive change in workflow to our OR workers. I […]

Reducing surgical site infection in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: The Oromia Regional Health Bureau (RHB) took a significant next step in its drive to make surgery and anaesthesia safer for tens of thousands of patients in the region, expanding the Clean Cut surgical site infection (SSI) reduction programme with partners in Minilik II Hospital, St. Peter’s Specialized Hospital, and the Fitche […]

Qualitative outcomes of Clean Cut: implementation lessons from reducing surgical infections in Ethiopia

The findings of this study highlight the importance of engaging hospital leadership, providers and staff in quality improvement programs, and understanding their work contexts. The identified barriers and Facilitators will inform future initiatives in the field of perioperative infection prevention. Authors: Aviva S. Mattingly, Nichole Starr, Senait Bitew, Jared A. Forrester, Tihitena Negussie, Sylvia Bereknyei […]

Development of a Surgical Infection Surveillance Program at a Tertiary Hospital in Ethiopia: Lessons Learned from Two Surveillance Strategies

This study shows that patient loss to follow-up and poor documentation of infections underestimated overall infectious complications. Direct, prospective follow-up is possible but requires increased time, clinical skill, and training. For accurate surgical infection surveillance, direct follow-up of patients during hospitalization is essential, because chart review does not accurately reflect post-operative complications. Authors: Jared A. […]

Bridging the know-do gap in low-income surgical environments: Creating contextually appropriate training videos to promote safer surgery in Ethiopia

Although international guidelines exist for the prevention of surgical site infections, their implementation in diverse clinical contexts, especially in low and middle-income countries, is challenging due to the lack of available resources and organizational structure of facilities. The goal of this project was to develop a series of video training aids to highlight best practices […]

Operating room efficiency in a low resource setting: a pilot study from a large tertiary referral center in Ethiopia

This study found a high cancellation rate, most attributable to late start times leading to delays for the remainder of cases, and lack of preoperative patient preparation. In a setting with a high unmet burden of surgical disease, operating room (OR) efficiency must be maximized with improved patient evaluation workflows, adequate OR staffing and commitment […]

Sustainability of a Surgical Quality Improvement Program at Hospitals in Ethiopia

In this quality improvement study, behavior changes associated with a multimodal surgical quality improvement program were persistent and, in some cases, continued to improve. This research details the results of a follow up audit conducted at seven hospitals in a cohort of 3,385 surgical patients six to eighteen months after completion of the Lifebox Clean […]

Lifebox Interviews Partners on COVID-19: Dr. Abebe Bekele

Dr. Abebe Bekele is general and thoracic surgeon from Ethiopia now based in Kigali, Rwanda, where he is Dean and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic and Research Affairs at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE). He speaks with Lifebox consulting medical officer, Dr. Tom Weiser, a trauma surgeon at Stanford University about the preparations […]

Our Team

Lifebox has a small, dynamic global team, that works with our network of partner clinicians to make surgery and anesthesia safer across the world.

Next steps #SaferSurgeryEthiopia

Lifebox has a long history in Ethiopia, having worked in the country since 2011 – supporting anaesthesia providers with essential monitoring equipment and the skills to deliver safer care, so we’re thrilled to continue this work with our colleagues in the Amhara region. This workshop will see 94 anaesthesia providers – including a graduating class […]