Critical care nursing practice and education in Rwanda

Abstract

Critical care nursing practice and education in Rwanda is a young specialty. There are very few critical care nurses practising in either hospital or academic settings, and typically nurses taking care of critically ill patients receive only a brief period of informal education prior to practising. Intensive care units are found predominantly in the state tertiary hospitals, located primarily in Kigali city. The purpose of this article is to describe the current state of critical care nursing in Rwanda, including challenges and opportunities faced by these nurses, as well as recent initiatives under way in an attempt to address these difficulties. This article is based on a review of the published and grey literature relevant to the healthcare system and the disease profile of Rwanda, as well as the evolution of critical care nursing in Rwanda. In addition, the experience of the first author in critical nursing in Rwanda helped to guide the development of the article.