By Steven Kisingiri | Country Director
Dr. Prisca is a GEC-sponsored EM physician and an assistant lecturer at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in the emergency medicine department. In addition to training the diploma students, her role is to teach primarily post-graduate students and stretches to undergraduate students in their surgical rotation. Mostly done are bedside teaching and handling handover rounds, which are the essential bits of understanding and critical thinking in inpatient care.
Her training in EM was one arduous journey. Like any new venture, paving the way for a new profession in a country where EM is barely visible was a daunting task. “Being the pioneer class, we were literally the guinea pigs for the master of EM course. We had to be prepared, opened minded, persistent, and goal-oriented to learn in terms of academics and to grow as a person,” she says. It was not easy for them because of limited resources. Theirs was a class of five students with four or five modules per semester, one full-time lecturer supported by a visiting lecturer, and limited teaching materials. “We learned to live within our means and to improvise with what was available, which was challenging. I grew emotionally and became self-aware,” she says. They had to build and foster relationships with lecturers from the traditional departments to have their modules delivered to progress in the course.
Undertaking the course stretched her, pushing her beyond every kind of comfort that she had known. “This is a full-time course away from home. I had to hand over my initial responsibilities like work, leave family and friends behind, and everything that was familiar to me to move to a new region in Uganda to undertake the course. It was a tough decision to move,” she recalls. It was also a choice between earning an income and studying. For her, it meant no source of income, no parties, and the like to focus on work, work, and more work. “It was so tiring… The three years weren’t easy, but we are so glad it is all done,” she says with a big sigh of relief, and she beams with an infectious smile.
We believe that every individual deserves to have healthcare. That is why we have made it our goal to create access to lifesaving medical care for Ugandans. We are grateful for your partnership in training emergency care professionals who train others to save lives. Join us and help make lifesaving care available to hundreds of thousands more!
By Birungi Alfunsi | Emergency Care Practitioner
By Teddy Kiire | Emergency Care Practitioner
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