Working towards national expansion of simulation based training in Rwanda
SimBegin trainings have taken place in Rwanda as part of the nationwide adoption of a simulation based approach to nursing and midwifery education.
Access to healthcare for Rwandan citizens has improved dramatically in the past twenty years, in large part due to the implementation of a Universal Health Coverage Policy. The country’s government is now turning its attention to capacity building and improving the quality of care, which is why SimBegin trainings have already taken place in eleven institutions in the country.
In alignment with the government’s National Strategy for Transformation, UNFPA Rwanda has been supporting nursing and midwifery institutions to embed a simulation-based approach, resulting in more than 800 students graduating with skills gained from simulation laboratories equipped by UNFPA. SimBegin - a simulation facilitator course that aims to build competence and confidence in planning, conducting, and debriefing simulation scenarios – was identified by UNFPA as an important tool to improve the quality of the simulation-based training as well as to ensure sustainability as they embed this approach.
That is why Laerdal Global Health has been working closely with UNFPA Rwanda and key stakeholders in Rwanda to support fifty healthcare workers to be trained on SimBegin. Ten of the individuals who have undertaken the course were then identified as being suitable to take their understanding further and have undertaken the simulation education mentorship element of the SimBegin program. This will allow them to act as co-trainers, delivering the SimBegin course, moving forwards.
Simulation based training in healthcare has huge potential for improving and maintaining the quality of care patients receive. Bringing the SimBegin course into pre-service education settings, like the University of Rwanda, has proved very successful – in large part thanks to the positive experiences the setting has had with simulation based training under UNFPA to this point.
Looking Ahead
With ambitions to have simulation training embedded into Rwanda’s nursing and midwifery education system, there will be a phased approach to scaling SimBegin. In mid-November 2023 a further training will take place for 25 individuals in coordination with the University of Rwanda, a setting that will act as a focal hub supporting other institutions as this approach is adopted nation-wide.
You can find out more about SimBegin here.
