Saving young lives: Triage and management of sepsis in children using the point-of-care Paediatric Rapid Sepsis Trigger (PRST) tool
Wellcome Trust
University of British Columbia
Smart Triage represents a significant shift in the care provided at Ugandan health facilities. Previously, children were seen on a first-come, first-serve basis. With Smart Triage, children are stratified by severity of illness to guide prioritization of care to the sickest children. This change in practice is unexpected for families. Sustaining impact beyond our research award will require acceptance and cooperation from caregivers and family of children who present to health facilities and the general public who become participants within this new system. Here we aim to sensitize caregivers and community members to Smart Triage and its impacts on the care provided at Ugandan health facilities. We will host community dialogues with caregivers, community leaders, and Village Health Teams (VHTs) to provide details of the motivation for Smart Triage and outcomes to-date and gain feedback the system. These discussions will inform the development of educational materials on the role of Smart Triage and the importance of triaging in reducing death and improving outcomes for vulnerable children in Uganda. We will engage with VHTs to broadly distribute these materials to caregivers across one district in which we operate. VHTs are trusted community members that serve as link between caregivers and the formalized health care system. We will monitor caregiver awareness of Smart Triage when they arrive at health facilities before and after our campaign to assess impact, and host additional community dialogues to help refine our approach. This approach will then be replicated in more districts.
7.1 Individual care needs