Ghana Anesthesia Program
Faculty and residents from the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah have been traveling to Kumasi, Ghana and the KATH Hospital
each year for the past decade to work in the operating room and teach anesthesia to nurse anesthetists and students. The program has been expanded and in addition to teaching nurse anesthetists students a two day Annual Anesthesia Refresher Course has been given for the past five years in which nurse anesthetists from all over Ghana attend. The topics are targeted for the types of surgeries and resource capabilities of the practicing nurse anesthetists in the country. Trauma anesthesia is covered in some way each year because it is the number one cause of mortality and morbidity (motor vehicle accidents) in Ghana. Each year monitors and anesthesia donated supplies are brought to supplement the hospital’s resources.
Dr. Jeff Peters and Dr. Mark Harris, faculty members of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah, coordinate the program which is a year around activity. In recent years the emphasis has been to provide educational materials and multimedia (DVD’s & CD’s). Current plans are to assist the local faculty in the development of an anesthesia residency training program for graduating MD’s in Ghana. Most of all anesthesia delivery in Ghana is provided by nurse anesthetists who have been trained in Kumasi since 1987 at the nurse anesthetist’s school started by Dr. Gabriel Boakye, M.D., Anesthesiologist.
The anesthesia team works with the local faculty and staff in the operating room on a wide variety of surgical cases, trauma and emergencies. In addition over the years the team has provided anesthesia support for visiting surgical specialty teams-ophthalmolgists, urologists, neurosurgeons, orthopedic, pediatric and general surgeons.
The usual duration of stay is 14 to 18 days with some volunteers working and teaching for up to a month this past year.
Program Directors
Jeff Peters, M.D.: In 2000, Dr. Peters was made a Visiting Professor in the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at the School of Medical Sciences in Kumasi, Ghana.
Mark Harris, M.D.
Program Report 2008
The most recent anesthesia team that returned May 23 included five anesthesia faculty and four senior and chief anesthesia residents. Nurse anesthetist’s students (50) were given lectures from four to seven hours each day. Over one hundred nurse anesthetists attend the annual anesthesia refresher course sponsored by the KATH Hospital (facilities and administrative planning staff) and the local district hospitals (transportation and lodging costs). The program has been extremely rewarding and the educational exchange and long term friendships make this activity a regular component of our lives.
