Journal – ASA Monitor
Article type – Other
Publication date – Jan – 2023
Authors – Julio C. Montejano, Betty Nantongo, Teguo Daniel Djoyum, Colby G. Simmons
Keywords – intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, neurosurgical procedures, Uganda
Open access – Yes
Speciality – Anaesthesia
World region Eastern Africa
Country: Uganda
Language – English
Submitted to the One Surgery Index on January 23, 2023 at 9:23 pm
Abstract:

The stated mission of the ASA Committee on Global Health is to enhance, support, educate, represent and collaborate for safe anesthesia practice worldwide. As an ASA Committee on Global Health scholarship recipient, Dr. Simmons traveled to CURE Uganda in 2017 and fully felt the pull of that mission. It was during this trip, and subsequent visits thereafter, that the framework was set for the creation of an educational and clinical program that would significantly improve surgical and anesthesia care, support economic development with job creation, and improve career satisfaction of clinicians via the implementation of the first intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) program in Uganda. At the University of Colorado Hospital, where Drs. Simmons and Montejano practice, the Section of Neuroanesthesia supervises and directs the IONM program. Utilizing these unique skills and recognizing the need for this technology and its ability to enhance patient outcomes, work began toward training and educating both a supervising physician and IONM technologist. After nearly two years of preparation with meetings and strategy sessions, as well as education and training, the program was launched in March 2022. The overall success of the project demonstrates the great potential of collaboration between departments of anesthesiology, neurosurgery, and hospital leadership despite cultural differences and geographic locations.

OSI Number – 21847

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