Deborah Rusy, MD, MBA, FASA, presented abstracts at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) in Singapore last week, March 3–7th. The Congress includes representation from over 130 countries. The next WCA will be held in Morocco in April 2026.
Dr. Rusy served as an ASA delegate to the WFSA General Assembly (GA) on March 3rd, 2024.
Her first presentation was on March 5, during the Global Health E-Poster Presentations: Case Studies, in the Exhibit Hall. Dr. Rusy presented the abstract poster “Establishment of the Global Academic Anesthesia Consortium (GAAC) to Assist with Improvement of Perioperative Anesthesia Training and Care in Zambia.”
Deborah A Rusy1, Kelly McQueen2, Hazel Mumphansha3;
1University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine And Public Health, Anesthesiology, Madison, WI, USA, 2University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine And Public Health, Madison, WI, USA, 3University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia
The poster presentation described the creation and progress to date of the Global Academic Anesthesia Consortium (GAAC), developed and initiated in 2022.
She explains, “The GAAC uses both live and virtual anesthesia education, research participation, and perioperative clinical training, partnering with anesthesia providers at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH)-University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia.”
Currently, there are a total of 10 U.S. academic anesthesia departments participating in the GAAC collaborative opportunities with the goal of a sustained presence within the UTH Anesthesia Department.
During the WCA Global Health E-Poster Presentations: Education & Training session, she presented her second abstract poster, “Building Capacity to Improve Surgery and Anesthesia Care in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Deborah A Rusy1, Nabeel Zafar2, Kelly McQueen1, Girma Tefera2, Hazel Mumphansha3, Amanu Gashaw Siraneh4, Belay Mellese Abebe,5, Bright Moyo Junior6, :Francis Pikiti6.
1Anesthesiology, University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine And Public Health, Madison, WI, USA, 2Surgery, University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine And Public Health, Madison, WI, USA, 3Anesthesiology, University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia, 4Anesthesiology, Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Science, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 5Surgery, Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Science, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 6Surgery, University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia
According to Dr. Rusy, the poster presentation summarized the proposal and work to date, which the team hopes to achieve with the Baldwin Grant Award. She explains, “We proposed to partner with anesthesiologists and surgeons at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, and Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia, to build local capacity for surgical and anesthesia QI programs by (a) developing infrastructure and implementing low-cost innovative mobile-health solutions that can measure perioperative outcomes; and (b) providing QI education and mentoring support to UTH and UH faculty, staff, and trainees.” She concluded, “Our goal is to develop a model in Zambia and Ethiopia for sustainable QI training and implementation in low-resource settings that ultimately improves perioperative outcomes.”