Through the non-profit Global Emergency Care (GEC), I plan to help provide emergency care and train medical providers in acute care delivery at Masaka Hospital in rural Uganda, where there is a shortage of emergency medicine doctors and services, resulting in a large burden of preventable morbidity and mortality. In Uganda and throughout most of Africa, non-physician clinicians vastly outnumber emergency physician specialists. I will be involved in carrying out a train the trainer program in emergency medicine for nurse practitioners that takes into account the limited resources at hand. This program will more effectively utilize the limited healthcare workforce to provide much needed acute care in lower income economies. The train the trainer program can also be quickly and inexpensively scaled-up to include other communities in need.
This project will benefit patients of all ages in need of emergency care services who live in communities with limited access to emergency trained providers and emergency care infrastructure. Currently in Sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of people who die in a hospital do so within 24 hours of arrival, often from causes that are treatable with inexpensive and effective acute care. The hope is by training more medical personnel how to respond during this critical window, loss of life will be reduced.
By training a trainer in basic emergency care, knowledge and skills can be carried forward to other providers long after my stint in Uganda. GEC has a well-established curriculum that physician mentors can draw from to teach local providers. I will also be working with nurse practitioners to provide clinical care, which will provide opportunities for on the job training in acute care management, bedside ultrasound imaging, and procedural techniques that once acquired can be used to help patients long-term and be passed on to new trainees after my return.
It was a privilege working with the emergency care providers at Nyakibale hospital to provide medical care to those in need from the surrounding community. I was grateful for the opportunity to teach emergency medicine management and skills to the providers in training and to develop the community's first course in first responder care. Everyone was so welcoming, kind, and generous in spirit, and I look forward to returning next year to continue to serve in a medical capacity. Thank you for the support!
