Our team has been working with the Rwandan people on the development and training for an ICU in the rural town of Butaro. Many of their pediatric and adult patients die currently due to their inability to provide mechanical ventilation, pressor medications and other basic ICU care. The ICU will open to adults this fall and to children this winter.
Our pediatric ICU team will be going to Butaro again to train for the pediatric opening this December. Currently we are all using our own money to support this trip, but it is getting very expensive. However the pediatric ICU cannot open until we have done this in person training.
The town and rural area surround Butaro, Rwanda. The hospital in Butaro asked to partner with our team to help them set up the ICU. They have government and local support to do so, and a local foundation called Partners in health has offered us housing in the area.
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The Butaro hospital has a busy ER and busy general and cancer floors for both pediatrics and adults. There are many patients who would survive if they had access to a mechanical ventilator and ICU medications and care for simple illnesses such as pneumonia. We believe we ill cut this hospital's mortality rate significantly by providing ICU care. In addition, it will improve the outcomes of the general rural population of Butaro that relies on this hospital. The nearest ICU is 5 hours away on difficult, sometimes dirt roads.
A pediatric ICU team from the University of Minnesota and Hennepin County Medical Center returned for a second time to Butaro, Rwanda in collaboration with the Global Perm NW Foundation to support Butaro Hospital in launching a pediatric intensive care service. This initiative represents an ongoing shared commitment with Butaro and their local partner the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) to building sustainable, high-quality pediatric critical care to this rural area of Rwanda.
Our team spent several weeks on site focusing on pediatric specific ICU care training with the excellent nursing staff of Butaro Hospital. It was so impressive to our team how dedicated these nurses are to their field and patients! We spent mornings covering classroom work using custom built curriculum designed for Butaro Hospital in collaboration with the physician and nursing leadership team of the hospital. Afternoons were all hands on with lots of practice sessions and simulations in the excellent UGHE facilities. We covered key topics such as ICU relevant pediatric pulmonary, cardiac, and neurologic physiology, as well as critical disease states and emergency care principles. Instruction also included practical training on medication delivery and acute stabilization techniques, with a strong emphasis on team-based care. We spent several days on site in the new ICU at Butaro Hospital teaming up with staff to establish work-flow and practice equipment setup.
This was a highly collaborative effort, with a focus on knowledge exchange and capacity building. We were continually impressed by the professionalism, curiosity, and clinical commitment of the Butaro team, and it was a privilege to support their growth in pediatric critical care. We are building a long-term partnership between our institutions, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for critically ill children in Rwanda. I really appreciate Dox Foundation’s support of our work!
