Saving Lives With Emergency Care in Rural Uganda

An unacceptable number of Ugandan’s still die or suffer disabilities because of the inability to access emergency care in good time. Jackeline is an accountant by profession with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) and an asthmatic condition. “All I remember is that I blacked out of the blue,” she says. “The emergency care professionals helped me a lot, and they gave me the care that I needed to save my life,” she adds.

With an HT condition, Jackeline is constantly in need of care. Fortunately for her, the proximity of working in and living near a facility with emergency care services has made it easy for her to access help. “My life is better now; I know where to go in case of anything,” she says in a warm-spirited way with an infectious smile. “Sincerely, they have improved the services we receive. They have made it easy to access help, and a patient can’t suffer. If they didn’t have the skill they had, I would have died. They work as a team and are very friendly. I got a family with them.” She concludes by referring to the trained Emergency Care Professionals.

But not everyone in Uganda is as lucky as Jackeline. There is still a gap of over 450 emergency care professionals required to provide care to millions of Ugandans.

“Big ideas come from forward thinking people and challenge the norm, think outside the box and invent the world they see inside than submitting to the limitations of current dilemmas”.-T.D Jakes

Teddy Kiire is my name. I have been working as an Emergency Care Practitioner for the past 10 years with Global Emergency Care. That’s where my story started.

Years ago, I had no idea what it would feel like to be an ECP but here I am to share with you what it feels like. It’s now my passion and I am very happy and satisfied with my career choice, and I encourage people to undertake emergency medicine as a career because it comes with personal satisfaction of knowing one’s work directly engaging with patients.

WHY IS EMERGENCY MEDICINE A GREAT CAREER TO ME AS AN ECP?

As an ECP, I initiate care for patients with urgent, higher acuity illness, traumas, and injuries to provide acute resuscitation and stabilisation of patients with life threatening emergencies.To love this career, one must understand how to recognize and quickly manage a complex patient's needs. For the time I have practiced as an ECP, I have mastered the skill of multi-tasking, prioritization, and working with a care team.

The main summary reason is that it is challenging and personally rewarding.You directly and quickly see the benefits and positive results of your diagnosis and treatment of patients with emergent conditions. You will have that satisfaction of knowing you have a big positive differences in patients’ lives and wellbeing and this aspect is what makes emergency medicine so interesting and stimulating.

Throughout my practice, emergency medicine encompasses a nice mix of diagnostic medicine and performing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures like bedside ultrasound, incision and drainage, paracentesis, and others.

CHALLENGES

The fact that emergency medicine is quite a new course here in Uganda, it’s still a lot to be done but we can’t stop being positive.

So, I personally love the challenges that come with adopting to the ECP roles. Today’s challenges as an ECP are to be able to work in a very stressful environment with high volume of patients and limited resources.

It’s amazing how the ECP role has advanced since 2008. I am grateful for the advocacy that Global Emergency Care has provided nationally within different states to clarify our roles and scope of practice, not forgetting my fellow ECPs because it was not a one day dream.

Questions that I always ask?

Why is it taking forever for the government to notice this is the cadre we need in our hospital setting? To sum it all, emergency medicine is a great career the national health care system should adopt to it as we shall not stop until we get there, “The struggle continues”!