Evaluating HIV-Patient Experience And Access To General Surgical Procedures In A Low Middle-Income Country

HIV is still a major global health problem. Access to prompt treatment and barriers in health care continue to exist in this vulnerable population. The quality gap in health service provision, in particular surgery, between HIV-negative patients and patients living with HIV (PLHIV) exists and is often overlooked. We aim to describe the process PLHIV experience accessing acute care surgery to identify potential gaps in care and guide quality improvement strategies. The project consists of three phases. Phase one consists of semi-structured confidential interviews, following an iterative process, to gain an in-depth understanding of patients’ and providers’ perceptions towards the steps needed to access surgical care and prompt ART, if not yet on it. Interview notes will be open coded to identify primary themes. We will then use DeDoose to identify concepts and themes. Phase two will consist of process mapping, using Swim Lane diagrams, and surveys based on previous interviews to understand steps taken by PLHIV towards accessing general surgical treatment and their journey to acquire early antiretroviral therapy. STATA software will be used to analyze quantitative data.