This February, faculty from the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine traveled to Rwanda to deliver hands-on ultrasound training designed around local clinical and educational needs.
Drs. Miranda Bradley, Colleen Andrews and Simanjit Mand partnered with the Africa Health Sciences University Emergency Medicine Residency Program, one of two emergency medicine residencies in Rwanda, and local clinicians at King Faisal Hospital in Kigali.
Point-of-care ultrasound is a portable technology that brings diagnostic imaging directly to the bedside, helping clinicians make faster decisions during time-sensitive emergencies. In settings where access to advanced imaging, laboratory testing or specialty consultation may vary, portable ultrasound can be especially valuable when supported by strong training, expert review and local clinical leadership.
Before traveling, the UW team collaborated with Dr. Tsion Firew, chair of emergency medicine at Africa Health Sciences University, to align UW faculty expertise with local training needs. Firew also coordinated a dedicated education day, allowing all emergency medicine residents to step away from clinical duties and attend — a rare show of protected training time that underscored the program’s commitment to ultrasound education and value of international partnerships.
The result was a full day of point-of-care ultrasound education and procedural practice tailored to the residents’ needs. In the morning, UW faculty gave lectures on using ultrasound to evaluate trauma patients, early pregnancy and serious heart conditions. In the afternoon, residents practiced scanning standardized patients allowing faculty to provide direct, hands-on coaching in real time.
“The most useful teaching happened when we could stand next to residents as they scanned and guide them through small adjustments to improve their scans,” said Bradley, who is an assistant professor in the Division of Emergency Ultrasound. “Those moments are hard to replicate remotely and helped us tailor training to the questions and clinical situations residents encounter in their own practice.”
Bradley had already been supporting the Rwandan residents remotely from Wisconsin by reviewing their ultrasound scans through the Butterfly system, a single-probe, handheld ultrasound device designed for flexible bedside imaging. Remote quality assurance helped sustain teaching across nearly 7,800 miles, but it also had limits.
“Being at the bedside allowed us to show residents how to adjust depth and gain, fan through an organ and capture the target image. That feedback that can be difficult to deliver through written comments alone,” she said.
Since the trip, Bradley has noted measurable improvement in the residents’ scan quality.
UW faculty also visited University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, known as CHUK, and Kibagabaga Level II Teaching Hospital, where local partners provided tours and broader context about emergency care delivery in the region. At CHUK, home to Rwanda’s first emergency medicine residency program, the team delivered point-of-care ultrasound lectures and led hands-on scanning practice in peripheral intravenous, or PIV, placement; cardiac and biliary ultrasound; and FAST exams, which help clinicians quickly assess trauma patients.
The experience reinforced the value of international collaboration that begins with local leadership. That approach, the UW faculty said, is essential to global health work that is ethical, practical and sustainable.
The service trip was part of an ongoing global health effort led by Dr. Jessica Schmidt, associate professor of emergency medicine and director of the Division of Global and Social Emergency Medicine, whose work in Rwanda through a 2025 U.S. Fulbright Scholar award has helped expand UW’s health care partnerships in East Africa.
Future work may include additional bedside teaching, ultrasound education and hands-on scanning practice developed with Africa Health Sciences University and its emergency medicine leadership.
U.S.-based emergency medicine residents interested in advanced training in global health and/or ultrasound are encouraged to apply to our accredited Global Emergency Medicine or Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasound fellowship programs.