Burn nurses training developed for Africa and Asia.

Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra is the main government hospital treating burns in Ghana and is home to . the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burn Centre. An Interburns team from the UK and Ethiopia have recently been working with senior nursing staff at Korle-Bu on developing an Advanced Burn Care (ABC) module for Nursing. This practical 5 day training course for nurses does not exist in many countries in Asia and Africa.

The course will include small group discussions, practical demonstrations in classrooms and working with patients, using the successful model of the ABC Rehabilitation training in Bangladesh in March 2015. Colleagues from the UK, Ghana and Ethiopia brought a diverse range of experience and skills to the development workshop.

The course covers anatomy and physiology of the skin and the pathophysiology of burns, nutrition, dressings and infection control, as well as patient and family education, burn prevention, and service development and evaluation (among many other topics). ABC programmes are aimed primarily at experienced staff who can take a leadership role in disseminating their learning to colleagues and staff in other services.

The team will deliver the first ABC Nursing programme in the first quarter of 2016 at the National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a regional workshop for nursing staff from Nepal, Bangladesh and selected African countries.

A further training is planned for Ghana later in 2016. A meeting was also held at the Ministry of Health to discuss the development of a post-graduate training course in burns and plastic surgery for nurses, based on the foundation of the ABC Programme.

Interburns would like to offer sincere thanks to Deborah Dowuona and Ethel Odei, Deputy Directors of Nursing Services for Burns and Plastics, Sheila Aboe Addison, Senior Nurse for Burns, and Doris Adjei Ntekor, Head Nurse for Burns as well as director Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah for his support in developing this programme.

We are also very grateful to Negat Woldehawariat and Hiwot Haile Mola who joined the team from Ethiopia, as well as Dominique Potokar and Diana Mehrez from the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery