Obstetric and gynecologic ultrasound training at the Uganda nursing school Bwindi: Initial experiences and challenges

For many years, clinical ultrasound has dramatically improved patient care in industrialized countries. However, millions of people in low-resource geographies remain today without access to this life-saving diagnostic and treatment tool. Over the last five years, Imaging the World (ITW) has successfully incorporated obstetric ultrasound examination into routine antenatal care at lower level health clinics in rural Uganda by training health workers to perform high-quality, point-of-care ultrasound. The result: high-risk pregnancies are detected early and patients are directed for appropriate referral and treatment, thus improving outcomes for women, their babies and their families. To build on ITW's success and quickly and efficiently increase the number of trained ultrasonographers, ITW has introduced an obstetric and gynecologic ultrasound training curriculum into the three-year nursing program at the Uganda Nursing School Bwindi (UNSB) in rural Uganda. This innovative addition to nursing education includes hands-on and online components that will enable graduate UNSB nursing students to perform obstetric and gynecological ultrasound examinations. In this paper, ITW describes the design and implementation of the inaugural curriculum, including challenges encountered and solutions found. ITW also provides data concerning student participation, knowledge acquisition, and curriculum assessment. ITW believes its innovative ultrasound training curriculum, offered in association with a regional nursing school, provides a replicable model for enhancing health worker skills and improving patient outcomes in underserved communities around the world.