Figure 1
Integrated model of Health System for resource-limited settings. Primary care is the basis of the health system, serving all the population. Other levels of care include hospital care and critical care. All levels are needed for public health response.
Table 1
Examples of Short Critical Care Courses Available in Resource-limited Settings.
| The Basic Assessment and Support in Intensive Care (BASIC) course, Chinese University of Hong Kong [70] | This is a short, intensive course that is widely available and free, with standardized training material that covers a broad range of intensive care topics [66]. Its target audience includes critical care physician trainees, critical care nurses, non-intensivist physicians, and allied health workers. Dissemination has relied on a train-the-trainers approach, with cascade trainings within countries by local facilitators. |
| World Health Organization short course on the critical care management of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) [71] | This course is designed to respond to outbreaks of severe respiratory infections and has trained over 1000 intensive care unit doctors from 13 countries, focusing on clinical management of patients with severe pneumonia, sepsis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. It is a collaborative effort between local health authorities, the WHO regional offices, and the WHO expert clinical network. |
| Network for Intensive Care Skills Training (NICST), Sri Lanka | NICST is a non-profit, international organization that provides training for critical care nurses [72, 73] in Sri Lanka with a train-the-trainers approach. An assessment found improvement of immediate knowledge and high levels of participant satisfaction [74]. |
| American Thoracic Society (ATS) Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical and Operations Research (MECOR) course | This series of courses is sponsored by the ATS and local respiratory societies and has trained over 1000 health professionals in 24 countries in research methodology [75]. |
Table 2
Examples of Academic Partnerships.
| The East African Training Initiative: A two-year fellowship program in pulmonary and critical care medicine hosted by the Tikur Anbessa (Black Lion) Teaching Hospital of Addis Ababa University (AAU) School of Medicine in Ethiopia. This is a collaborative effort between the health ministry, the AAU, international faculty, the World Lung Foundation and the Swiss Lung Foundation [69] and had graduated nine specialists as of January 2019. |
| The Rwanda Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program: A partnership between 25 American institutions and the Rwandan Ministry of Health. It aims to increase capacity to 500 specialist-trained physicians within the seven years of its funding and includes critical care [76]. |