Table 1.
Overview of metrics and considerations for use
| Data Items | Examples | Issues |
| Setting | ||
| Facility | Prehospital Facility (rural vs urban) |
Different levels of data will be appropriate based on facility and the research capacity |
| Personnel | Level of training Proportion of providers across each levels of training |
Large variability and must be thoroughly reported to ensure understanding and generalisability of findings |
| Equipment | CT scan, sterile equipment, basic disposable items, for example, catheters, fluids, medications | Supply chain limitations and sustainability of access |
| Demographics | ||
| Country demographics | Age and sex distinctions with generally younger populations with larger burdens of patients living with minimal resources | Demographic and risk transitions are poorly understood in LMICs and need to be well documented |
| Comorbidities | Concurrence of infectious disease with non-infectious ones (eg, burdens of anaemia in injured patients) Chronic diseases often unrecognised in LMIC |
Difficulty to assess and categorise for existence and overlap |
| Processes | ||
| Prehospital care ED Admission as inpatient Need for ICU Discharge |
ED length of stay ED disposition Inpatient length of stay ICU availability and usage |
Lack of clear definitions across physical structures and within single facilities |
| Laboratory testing Point of care testing |
Blood counts TuberculosiB or HIV tests ECG Ultrasound |
Availability of tests and types Documentation of results |
| Interventions for treatments | Antimicrobials Haemodynamic and respiratory support |
Availability of equipment Implementation costs |
| Implementation Quality assurance |
Uptake of and compliance with care algorithms | Difficult to maintain sustainability without resource Need for simple evaluation points |
| Outcomes | ||
| Mortality Cause of death |
ED based (initial treatment <24 hours) In-hospital mortality and 30/60/90-day mortality |
ED based outcomes not commonly collected Posthospital follow-up difficult and resource intensive |
| Post-discharge function and morbidity | Quality of life and functionality assessments | Difficult to collect Cultural appropriateness |
| Provider acceptability | Date from surveys, interviews, focus groups. | Poor uptake resulting in lack of representativeness and inaccuracy Uncommonly done in LMICs |
| Costing | Fees incurred, lengths of stay, ICU usage, treatments | Variability in costs across settings |
ED, emergency department; ICU, intensive care unit; LMICs, low-income and middle-income countries.