Framework for Neurosurgery Database Implementation in a Low-Resource Setting

Abstract

Despite significant potential for informing and driving global neurosurgery research and clinical efforts, there are significant barriers to obtaining high quality, interoperable neurosurgical data in LMICs. The aim of this paper was to initiate development of a simple, reproducible framework to guide prospective database implementation. We adapted existing established frameworks to the global neurosurgery research context and then used a case study to assess how well the framework anticipated quality issues. The proposed framework encompasses domains and key facilitators to producing high quality, interoperable neurosurgical data in low-resource settings. Future studies are needed to evaluate and further refine this framework.