The clinical practice of emergency medicine in Mahajanga, Madagascar.

Introduction: Little is documented concerning the clinical practice of emergency care in low- and middle-income countries. The lack of structural models presents serious obstacles to the development of effective emergency care services. This study provides such a model by describing the clinical practice at the emergency centre of the Centre Hôpitalier Universitaire de Mahajanga in Madagascar.

Impact of 2004 tsunami in the islands of Indian ocean: lessons learned.

Tsunami of 2004, caused by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, is the most devastating tsunami in modern times, affecting 18 countries in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa, killing more than 250,000 people in a single day, and leaving more than 1.7 million homeless.

EMS in Mauritius.

Mauritius lies in the southwest Indian Ocean about 1250 miles from the African coast and 500 miles from Madagascar. Mauritius (estimated population 1,230,602) became independent from the United Kingdom in 1968 and has one of the highest GDP per capita in Africa. Within Mauritius there is a well established EMS system with a single 999 national dispatch system.

Faculty development: how to evaluate the effectiveness of a faculty development program in emergency medicine.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of any faculty development program (FDP) is crucial to provide assessment of existing programs and to yield valid recommendations for designing future programs that better address the needs of individual faculty members and the sponsoring institutions. The author chose the validated Kirkpatrick's model with four levels of program outcomes (satisfaction data, learning data, performing data, and career change) to evaluate the effectiveness of an FDP in emergency medicine. Assessment of the effectiveness of this FDP can be performed by sponsoring organizations or by independent evaluators experienced in the field for better objectivity.