Anesthesia is a developing discipline in Ethiopia. That is to say, it is currently very underdeveloped. In a country of 80+ million people, there are a handful of anesthesiologists (I’ve heard about 10 total). Nurse anesthetists provide virtually all anesthesia to the country. However, the nurse anesthetists in Ethiopia are not trained as ours are in the US. In the US, nurse anesthetists have a bachelor’s in nursing, usually have ICU experience, and then get a rigorous masters degree in nurse anesthesia. Here in Ethiopia, nurse anesthetists only have a BA in Anesthesia. Read the rest of this entry »