A prospective Study on Incidence Rate of Post-operative Nausea and Vomiting amongst Obstetrics and Gynecology patient at Vila Central Hospital over six- months period.

Vanuatu, previously known as New Hebrides, is an archipelago. A chain of eighty-three
(83) islands forming a Y shape. It is situated South of Solomon Islands, East of New Caledonia and West of Fiji.
Vila Central Hospital (VCH) is located in the capital city Port-Vila.VCH is the country's main referral Hospital. It receives referrals from the 3 existing sub divisional hospitals serving the country's six provinces.
The various departments in the hospital are as follows: Surgical, Medical, Pediatric,
Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Radiology, Laboratory, Physiotherapy, OPD & ER. VCH has one hundred and thirty-nine (139) beds with thirty-seven (37) doctors including seven Chinese and three Cuban doctors.
Surgery is done daily in theatre except on weekends at the exceptions of emergencies. Gynecology cases alone were totaling up to seventy-eight (78) cases in 2010 and increased to one hundred and one (101) last year 2011.
2. Statement of the Problem
Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting rate (PONV) is not documented yet and there is currently no known audit in place. No previous study was done in Vanuatu.
PONV is not commonly seen in the high risk inpatients in our population. In addition, nitrous oxide was removed from the Operating Theatres in 2009 because of its high cost. Nitrous oxide was then replaced with air that is now used in combination with oxygen.
The anesthetic volatile agent that is routinely used is halothane. Isoflurane has been supplied to VCH only through donations mainly from the visiting teams. Anti-emetic prophylaxis is not routinely given even to the high risk group of PONV.
This PONV study is a field of interest. PONV can result in morbidity like, wound dehiscence, bleeding, pulmonary aspiration of gastric content, fluid and electrolyte disturbances, delayed hospital discharge, unexpected hospital admissions, decreased patient satisfaction.
Looking into existing co-morbidities mentioned above, the literature review, and discovering the existing PONV risk classification and its multimodal management in place, I am therefore interested to know more about PONV in my working environment.