Questionnaire
ACCESS AND USE OF NEUROSURGICAL HEALTHCARE IN MALAWI
INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS
Dear Participants,
We sincerely invite you to participate in the following survey. The participation is voluntary. To help you to understand what this study is about and what you can expect if you participate, we have compiled most important information in this page.
Your participation is important!
It is important that as many of the invited participants as possible take part in order to receive meaningful data for the neurosurgical health care in Malawi. Our goal is to collect data from as many Medical Doctors/Clinical Officers/Health Assistants from all health sectors and all regions of Malawi as possible, in order to achieve a high degree of representativeness.
Who is conducting the study?
The study is being conducted through a cooperation of the Department of Neurosurgery of Ulm University Hospital in Ulm, Germany and the Blantyre Institute of Neurological Sciences at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Kapapa Department of Neurosurgery, Ulm University Hospital.
Why is this study conducted and what is the purpose of the data collected?
The primary goal of the study is to generate a
factual basis on the number of patients requiring neurosurgical care and the
nature and severity of neurosurgical diseases in Malawi, which could serve
strategic orientations, potential studies and humanitarian projects in the
future.
Lack of information on the neurosurgical care needs in Malawi represents a fundamental weakness in improving access to neurosurgical services. Medical and health economic planning for the future must be based on real needs. There is no precise data available yet on the number potential neurosurgical patients who do not receive adequate neurosurgical care in Malawi. The reasons for the lack of care will also be examined in more detail on the basis of this study.
Only those who are invited by us to take part in the study can register for participation. If you are a
Medical Doctor/ Clinical Officer/ Nurse / Clinical Officer / or another medical profession currently working in Malawi, you are more than welcome to participate.
What are the main topics?
The main question covered by this study is the number of potential neurosurgical patients in Malawi that may receive inadequate neurosurgical care in a given period of time. The reasons for the potential lack of care are also examined more closely on the basis of this study.
Some of the secondary questions consist of finding out which neurosurgical diseases are considered most urgent in Malawi, which age groups are particularly affected by neurosurgical diseases, how often are medical service providers for neurosurgical diseases called upon and how often is specialist are neurosurgical care provided.
Ethical Considerations:
The responsible ethics committee of Ulm University Hospital and the National Health Research Ethics Comittee of Malawi examined the study under ethical aspects and decided that no vote is required for this project, as the planned survey of medical staff is to be conducted completely anounymously and no personal patient data is to be collected.
You are participating in this research project voluntarily. You can revoke your consent at any time and without giving reasons, in which case all data collected up to that point for study purposes will be deleted and the corresponding samples will be destroyed.
Availability of study physician:
If any questions arise during the course of the research project, you may contact the following person:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Kapapa, Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Ulm, Germany, under the following and Prof. Patrick Kamalo, Department of Neurosurgery, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.
Confidentiality/Data protection:
All persons who supervise you in the course of this project are subject to the duty of confidentiality and are bound to data secrecy.
The study-related examination results are to be used in anonymous form in scientific publications.
As far as it is necessary to control the correct data collection, authorized persons (e.g.: of the client, of the university) are allowed to inspect the study-related parts of the medical record.
of which they become aware during the inspection constitute trade secrets that must be kept secret.
The person responsible for data processing in this project is:
Phone number: +49 171 3167 820
E-Mail: thomaskapapa@uniklinik-ulm.de
We realise that some participants practice in different places. Where you are requested to give information about the nature of your practice, can you please give information from your primary (main) place of practice.
It will take you approximately 20-30 minutes to conduct the survey!