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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1522315

ENHANCING SURGICAL SAFETY THROUGH SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS REPAIR TECHNICIANS' TRAINING: RECENT EXPERIENCE FROM NIGERIA

Provisionally accepted
Chisom R Udeigwe-Okeke Chisom R Udeigwe-Okeke 1,2Justina Seyi-Olajide Justina Seyi-Olajide 2,3Aderonke O Obisesan Aderonke O Obisesan 2,4Keith Miles Keith Miles 5Nkeiruka (NK) Obi Nkeiruka (NK) Obi 2,6Emmanuel A. Ameh Emmanuel A. Ameh 1,2*
  • 1 Division of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, National Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria
  • 2 NSOANP-Smile Train Technical Review Team, Abuja, Nigeria
  • 3 Department of Surgery, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria
  • 4 Department of Anaesthesia, National Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria
  • 5 Safe Surgery Initiative, Phoenix, United States
  • 6 Smile Train, Africa Office, Lagos, Nigeria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Faulty or poorly maintained surgical instruments increase risks of complications, prolong operating times, and reduce efficiency, especially in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). To address this, Nigeria introduced the Surgical Instruments Repair Technicians (SIRT) programme, to improve instrument safety.Objective: This study evaluated the SIRT programme's initial impact, sustainability, and scalability for improved surgical instrument maintenance in LMICs. Methods: The programme was deployed in two phases. Phase one involved online theoretical and hands-on training for biomedical technicians and operating room/central sterile supply nurses from Smile Train partner and public hospitals across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. Participants were provided repair kits to establish institutional workbenches. Phase two focused on expanding training with a one-week hands-on program. Data on demographics, training feedback, and repair outcomes were collected. Results: A total of 36 participants completed training (24 in phase one, 12 in phase two), evaluating 1,623 instruments with a 99.6% successful repair rate. Post-training surveys showed that 83.3% of participants felt more confident identifying faulty instruments, and 95.8% reported adequate repair skills. Institutional workbenches were established in 50% of hospitals, and repair drives were conducted within institutions and neighbouring hospitals.The programme demonstrated significant potential for improving surgical instrument maintenance and enhancing safety in LMICs. Integrating the programme into hospital budgets could support sustainable expansion.

    Keywords: Font: Century Gothic Surgical safety, Instrument repair, Training programme, biomedical technicians, Operating room nurses

    Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 05 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Udeigwe-Okeke, Seyi-Olajide, Obisesan, Miles, Obi and Ameh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Emmanuel A. Ameh, Division of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, National Hospital, Abuja, 810001, Nigeria

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.