In 2019, Dr. Girma Tefera, Professor of the Division of Vascular Surgery, was awarded a Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment Project Grant. The Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment is a competitive grant program that fosters public engagement and the advancement of the Wisconsin Idea. The Wisconsin Idea signifies a general principle: that education should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom.
Dr. Tefera’s Baldwin Grant project was titled “Surgical Training through Simulation in Ethiopia.” The focus of the project was to create a “Training of Trainers” simulation curriculum and program for Hawassa University that would help them become independent with Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) training. ATLS is a trauma management training that is standardized by the American College of Surgeons.
Trauma management training is essential for this region because 80 to 90 percent of trauma-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Using the existing partnership between the UW–Madison Department of Surgery and Hawassa University in Ethiopia, Dr. Tefera developed a plan to train surgeons and nurses in Ethiopia in ATLS, so that they could eventually become independent trainers.
“The impact of teaching a systematic way of approaching trauma patients could potentially save lives,” Dr. Tefera said.
This project involved multiple phases. First, was a needs assessment at Hawassa University, looking at what the university already had and what they would need for the training to be successful. From an equipment perspective, gaps were identified and part of the funding from the grant was used to buy equipment so that the simulation center would be ready to provide training. The other part of the needs assessment involved looking at who would be the teachers for this training.
“The sustainability depends on whether the simulation center is equipped and if we have enough trainers,” Dr. Tefera said. “Buying equipment is easy. Getting people ready takes time.”
During the next phase, four people from a pool of local surgeons, nurses, and physicians were recruited to become instructors for the trauma management training. These four people needed to complete a provider and an instructor course in order to become ATLS instructors. Since neither of these courses were offered in Ethiopia, they had to travel to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for their training. To become fully certified in ATLS by the American College of Surgeons, these instructors needed to complete one final training in Ethiopia. This training involved an observation to ensure that the instructors teaching the ATLS course were achieving the highest quality of training. In February 2023, they completed this certification and became official instructors.
Hawassa now has nine instructors and their skills lab is fully functional. Since the certification, the Ethiopian team has done one ATLS training by themselves and are poised to expand the training within Ethiopia and into Rwanda. Dr. Tefera’s goal for the next two years is to support the Ethiopian team in teaching three courses per year. The hope is that the Ethiopian team will train people from other universities so that the training can continue to spread.
“The impact will be exponential on the care of the trauma patient,” Dr. Tefera said.