title: State of emergency medicine in Rwanda 2015: an innovative trainee and trainer model.
abstract: The 1994 Rwandan war and genocide left more than 1 million people dead; millions displaced; and the country's economic, social, and health infrastructure destroyed. Despite remaining one of the poorest countries in the world, Rwanda has made remarkable gains in health, social, and economic development over the last 20 years, but modern emergency care has been slow to progress. Rwanda has recently established the Human Resources for Health program to rapidly build capacity in multiple sectors of its healthcare delivery system, including emergency medicine. This project involves multiple medical and surgical residencies, nursing programs, allied health professional trainings, and hospital administrative support. A real strength of the program is that trainers work with international faculty at Rwanda's referral hospital, but also as emergency medicine specialty trainers when returning to their respective district hospitals. Rwanda's first emergency medicine trainees are playing a unique and important role in the implementation of emergency care systems and education in the country's district hospitals. While there has been early vital progress in building emergency medicine's foundations in Rwanda, there remains much work to be done. This will be accomplished with careful planning and strong commitment from the country's healthcare and emergency medicine leaders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Masaka District Hospital, P.O. Box 3472, Kigali, Rwanda ; University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda.
authors.forename: Gabin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mbanjumucyo
authors.affiliation: University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda ; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville, 655 West 8th Street, Jacksonville, FL USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: DeVos
authors.affiliation: University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda ; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia, St. Paul's Hospital, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC Canada.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pulfrey
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Zero Emerson Place, Boston, MA USA.
authors.forename: Henry M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Epino
keywords: Emergency department; Emergency medicine; Global health; International emergency medicine; Postgraduate training; Rwanda; Trainee; Trainer