Imediegwu Kelechi U, Ibe Joy C, Onyebuchukwu Chiamaka Q, Abor Jude C, Umeji Ebube I, Asuquo Bassey B, Anya Jonah P, Okeke Kosisochukwu C, Solagbade Remi S, Ugwuanyi Uchechukwu D, Onah Ifeanyi I
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.
College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.
J West Afr Coll Surg. 2025 Jan-Mar;15(1):31-36. doi: 10.4103/jwas.jwas_135_23. Epub 2024 Aug 2.
Hand injuries sometimes cause significant loss of function with psychological and functional consequences. The national status on dedicated specialised hand surgery units, hand surgery fellowship programmes, and outcome of operative hand surgery cases is generally lacking.
To determine the current state of hand surgery practice in south eastern Nigeria and identify the major challenges to its practice and proffer realistic solutions.
This was a prospective and cross-sectional study conducted amongst accredited hospitals for plastic surgery training in south eastern Nigeria amongst plastic surgery senior residents. Data were collected using a well-structured online questionnaire validated by a panel of investigators created as a Google form. Data analysis was carried out using Statistical package for Social Sciences by IBM, version 22. Ethical approval was obtained from the health, research, and ethical committee of the University of Enugu Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.
There was a 70.59% response rate with 24 residents filling and submitting the questionnaire. Lack of fellowship training opportunities in hand surgery represents the most important challenge of hand surgery practice, followed by lack of appropriate facilities in government institutions in contrast to a lack of funding in private ones. Other major challenges include lack of adequate funding, lack of facilities, late presentation of cases, and lack of appropriate follow-up physiotherapy protocol. Availability of competent hand surgery specialists was significantly correlated with the frequency of hand surgery cases in the facilities ( = 0.000; χ = 20.400).
CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATION: The current state of hand surgery practice in south eastern Nigeria is not yet optimal. The creation of more hand fellowship trainings and courses bagged first place in recommended solutions by nearly half of the respondents. Provision of modern facilities, creation of dedicated hand surgical units, and better funding to the specialty were other suggestions.
手部损伤有时会导致严重的功能丧失，并产生心理和功能方面的后果。目前普遍缺乏关于专门的手部外科单位、手部外科进修项目以及手部手术病例结果的全国性情况。
确定尼日利亚东南部手部外科手术的现状，找出其实施过程中的主要挑战，并提出切实可行的解决方案。
这是一项前瞻性横断面研究，在尼日利亚东南部经认可的整形外科培训医院中，对整形外科高级住院医师进行。通过由调查人员创建的谷歌表单验证的结构良好的在线问卷收集数据。使用IBM公司的社会科学统计软件包第22版进行数据分析。获得了尼日利亚埃努古大学教学医院健康、研究和伦理委员会的伦理批准。
回复率为70.59%，有24名住院医师填写并提交了问卷。手部外科缺乏进修培训机会是手部外科手术实践面临的最重要挑战，其次是政府机构缺乏适当设施，而私立机构则缺乏资金。其他主要挑战包括资金不足、设施缺乏、病例就诊延迟以及缺乏适当的后续物理治疗方案。有能力的手部外科专家的可用性与各机构手部手术病例的频率显著相关（P = 0.000；χ² = 20.400）。
结论/建议：尼日利亚东南部手部外科手术的现状尚未达到最佳。近一半的受访者将设立更多手部进修培训和课程列为建议解决方案的首位。提供现代设施、设立专门的手部外科单位以及增加对该专业的资金投入是其他建议。
