Attitudes, beliefs, and practices toward end-of-life care among physicians in sub-Saharan Africa.

Introduction: as the opportunity to receive life-sustaining treatments expands in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), so do potential ethical dilemmas. Little is known regarding the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of physicians in SSA regarding end-of-life care ethics.

Methods: we used validated survey items addressing physician end-of-life care views and added SSA-context specific items.

Building and Sustaining Partnerships in Health Workforce and Research Capacity in Rwanda.

Rwanda's ambitious Human Resources for Health (HRH) program comes to an end this year, having made great strides towards achieving its aim to create a large, diverse and competent health workforce, and will have graduated over 4,500 healthcare professionals since its inception in 2012. The HRH program was based on strong collaborative relationships between Rwandan and United States academic institutions and faculty and now stands poised to enter a new phase focused on sustaining the many gains achieved. Fostering career development of new Rwandan faculty and building health research capacity are key components to sustaining the mutually beneficial partnerships that have been forged over the past seven years, with the goal of creating strong Rwandan health researchers that can advance knowledge of best practices for patient care and public health, appropriate to the Rwandan context and other resource-limited settings.

Impact of ultrasound on management for dyspnea presentations in a Rwandan emergency department.

Background: The complexity of diagnosis for critically ill dyspnea presentations in the emergency department remains a challenge. Accurate and rapid recognition of associated life-threatening conditions is paramount for timely treatment. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been shown to impact the diagnosis of dyspnea presentations in resource-rich settings, and may be of greater diagnostic benefit in resource-limited settings.

The "Just Right" Amount of Oxygen. Improving Oxygen Use in a Rwandan Emergency Department.

Despite oxygen's classification as an essential medication by the World Health Organization, it is inconsistently available in many resource-constrained settings. Hypoxemia is associated with increased mortality, and mounting evidence suggests that hyperoxia may also be associated with adverse outcomes. To determine if overuse of oxygen for some patients in a Rwandan tertiary care hospital emergency department might coexist with oxygen shortages and underuse of oxygen for other patients, and whether an educational intervention coupled with provision of pulse oximeters could improve the distribution of limited oxygen resources.

Developing and implementing a global emergency medicine course: Lessons learned from Rwanda.

Background: There is a growing demand by medical trainees for meaningful, short-term global emergency medicine (EM) experiences. EM programs in high-income countries (HICs) have forged opportunities for their trainees to access this experience in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, few programs in LMICs have created and managed such courses.

Epidemiologic Characteristics of Pediatric Trauma Patients Receiving Prehospital Care in Kigali, Rwanda.

Background: Pediatric trauma is a significant public health problem in resource-constrained settings; however, the epidemiology of injuries is poorly defined in Rwanda. This study describes the characteristics of pediatric trauma patients transported to the emergency department (ED) of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali by emergency medical services in Kigali, Rwanda.

Methods: This cohort study was conducted at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali from December 2012 to February 2015.