I plan to create and implement a high-fidelity cardiac critical care simulation curriculum in University Teaching Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda for the Emergency Medical residents/trainees based on fundamentals of Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). This will include topics such as cardiac arrest, tachydysrhythmias, and bradydysrhythmias. The goal is to allow for a safe environment for better learning through simulation, which is safer for patients. I anticipate it will make a difference by improving both knowledge and confidence of providers who are managing critically ill patients with cardiac dysrhythmias or who are in cardiac arrest, thereby improving patient outcomes.
Intended population to benefit from the project:
- Emergency Medicine residents at University Teaching Hospital in Kigali, as this will directly influence and improve their knowledge and confidence in managing critically ill cardiac patients and cardiac arrests.
- General population of Kigali, as this will summate in improved patient outcomes through faster recognition of unstable arrhythmias, increased organisation in leading a cardiac arrest and prompt up-to-date management.
Through the use of pre-simulation and post-simulation surveys, I expect improvement in confidence of providers surrounding the management of critical cardiac patients. I also anticipate an improvement of knowledge retention regarding ACLS protocols and management of dysrhythmias through the use of a multiple choice test before, directly after, and 3 months after. Furthermore, I plan on partnering with Emergency Medical residents in Kigali to gauge and determine whether implement of the curriculum is associated with improved patient outcomes in cardiac arrest over time.
Upon my return, the plan is to develop and tailor this curriculum to the resources and schedule of their didactics sessions to allow for spaced repetition over the course of a year. This will thereby improve knowledge retention and allow for fine-tuning of management practices through the medium of simulation.
Whilst in Rwanda, I designed and taught the Emergency Medicine residents at University Teaching Hospital in Kigali (CHUK) a simulations curriculum based on cases in cardiac dysrhythmia. The residents were incredibly engaged, humble, and fun to work with! They were able take away a lot of practical learning points through the educational medium of simulations! Although there were no salient mannequins to use other than a CPR mannequin, we still made the most of human volunteers to act as patients and a whiteboard to draw out common cardiac dysrhythmias for the residents to work through and manage. Rwanda itself was so beautiful to explore and I am very grateful to have been given this privilege and opportunity to teach and explore.
