Development of an acute care surgery service in Rwanda.

Background: Acute care surgery (ACS) encompasses trauma, critical care, and emergency general surgery. Due to high volumes of emergency surgery, an ACS service was developed at a referral hospital in Rwanda. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of ACS and understand the impact of an ACS service on patient outcomes.

Defining the Three Delays in Referral of Surgical Emergencies from District Hospitals to University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Rwanda.

Background: Surgical conditions represent up to 30% of the global burden of diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the delays in patients transferred to a tertiary referral hospital from district hospitals (DHs) in Rwanda with emergency general surgery (EGS) conditions.

Methods: We performed a prospective review of all EGS patients referred from DH over a 3-month period to assess delays in transfer and accessing care.