Acute non-traumatic abdominal pain presenting to emergency unit of a university teaching hospital in Rwanda.

Background: Emergency Department consultation for non-traumatic abdominal pain is one of the common reasons for presentation; accounting for 5.76-20 % of all Emergency Department consultations. Research about non-traumatic abdominal pain is limited in Rwanda and East Africa.

Student challenges and successes in integration of planetary health in medical education: a mixed methods analysis.

Introduction: This study evaluates challenges and successes faced by medical students leading planetary health (PH) curriculum reform and tracks changes over time.

Methods: The Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) is a standardized, metric-based tool for assessing PH education in medical schools. In October 2023, a survey was emailed to 132 medical students across 52 US institutions who had served as primary contacts for their school's most recent PHRC between 2020 and 2023.

The financial and environmental impact of unopened medical supplies discarded in the emergency department.

Background: Inefficient supply chain management within the US healthcare industry results in significant financial and environmental impact. Unopened medical supplies may routinely be discarded in the Emergency Department (ED), contributing as a source of unnecessary medical waste.

Objectives: Quantify the financial and environmental impact of unopened medical supplies that are routinely discarded in two EDs.

Epidemiology and outcomes of geriatric trauma patients consulting at the center hospitalier universitaire de Kigali emergency department.

Background: Life expectancy in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) continues to rise, resulting in a growing geriatric population. In Rwanda, a sub-Saharan LMIC, traumatic injuries are a common cause of mortality and morbidity. However, little is known about the frequency and type of traumatic injuries among geriatric populations in Rwanda.

"EM Doc On Call:" A Pilot Study to Improve Interhospital Transfers in Rwanda.

Introduction: Treatment of seriously ill patients is often complicated by prolonged or complex transfers between hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa. Difficulties or inefficiency in these transfers can lead to poor outcomes for patients. "On-call" triage systems have been utilized to facilitate communication between facilities and to avoid poor outcomes associated with patient transfer.

A grassroots approach for greener education: An example of a medical student-driven planetary health curriculum.

Given the widespread impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on human health, medical schools have been under increasing pressure to provide comprehensive planetary health education to their students. However, the logistics of integrating such a wide-ranging and multi-faceted topic into existing medical curricula can be daunting. In this article, we present the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University as an example of a student-driven, bottom-up approach to the development of a planetary health education program.

Trends in Waste Production at a Community Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: As of September 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to 42,500,000 cases and 680,000 deaths in the United States. In Rhode Island, there have been 170,000 cases and 2,820 deaths. Investigating resource utilization and waste production during disease outbreaks can inform efforts at disaster preparedness.

Chin Numbness as a Presenting Symptom of Malignancy.

Numb Chin Syndrome (NCS) is a sensory neuropathy that was first described in the early 1800s. It has various etiologies, most commonly benign local pathology. However, NCS has been documented as the primary presenting symptom of systemic malignancy, most commonly breast cancer.

Validation of a wearable biosensor device for vital sign monitoring in septic emergency department patients in Rwanda.

Objective: Critical care capabilities needed for the management of septic patients, such as continuous vital sign monitoring, are largely unavailable in most emergency departments (EDs) in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and accuracy of using a wireless wearable biosensor device for continuous vital sign monitoring in ED patients with suspected sepsis in an LMIC setting.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study of pediatric (≥2 mon) and adult patients with suspected sepsis at the Kigali University Teaching Hospital ED.

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 emergency medicine training implementation on mortality outcomes in Kigali, Rwanda: An interrupted time-series study.

Introduction: Although emergency medicine (EM) training programmes have begun to be introduced in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), minimal data exist on their effects on patient-centered outcomes in such settings. This study evaluated the impact of EM training and associated systems implementation on mortality among patients treated at the University Teaching Hospital-Kigali (UTH-K).

Methods: At UTH-K an EM post-graduate diploma programme was initiated in October 2013, followed by a residency-training programme in August 2015.