Providing and Educating in Kigali, Rwanda with Team Heart: A goal for independent practice, Part 2

Allyson Lemay MD

Brigham and Women’s Anesthesiology

PGY4

Providing and Educating in Kigali, Rwanda with Team Heart: A goal for independent practice, Part 2

Teaching proper central line placement

The ultimate goal of Team Heart is independent cardiac surgical care in Rwanda where currently there is not the facility or resources. To reach this goal there needs to be providers in Rwanda that are trained in cardiac surgery, cardiac anesthesia, cardiac nursing, and perfusion. On the anesthesia side, we had a senior resident from the University of Kigali who worked with us throughout the trip. She had never been exposed to cardiac anesthesia before but she jumped right in with enthusiasm and determination. Arterial lines, the first step to any cardiac anesthetic, was not something that she had ever done before and had only read about. This was the same with the cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Each day she progressed significantly and the steps of a cardiac anesthetic became more clear to her. Ultimately her goal is to apply for a pediatric ICU fellowship. She told me she would have to go to Kenya for this advanced training as there are not many fellowship positions in Rwanda at this time and specifically none in pediatric ICU. For cardiac, she told me she would have to travel to South Africa as this is one of the only places that trains cardiac anesthesiologists. It is the same on the surgical side, where only one Rwandan surgical resident has traveled to South Africa for training. He currently has 3-4 years left in his fellowship and hopefully another resident from Rwanda will be accepted into the program. Opportunities are very scarce yet all the residents had great attitudes about their future career goals. The anesthesia residency in Kigali has been expanding each year and currently they have 10 residents in each class. With the expansion of the residency there has been planning for future implementation of fellowship training which will hopefully include cardiac anesthesia. This would be a big step in allowing for Team Heart as an organization to reach their ultimate goal of bringing sustainable cardiac care to Rwanda.  

Brigham Anesthesia residents with Rwandan Anesthesia Residents