Ghana
THE S.T.A.B.L.E. PROGRAM
INTERNATIONAL TRIP REPORT – May 2023
1. Location where S.T.A.B.L.E. Learner Course was taught
Tamale, Ghana
2. Report Submitted by:
Geralyn Sue Prullage DNP, APN, NNP-BC
Tamale Teaching Hospital
3. COURSE INFORMATION
S.T.A.B.L.E. Learner Course: May 30 and 31st, 2023
Tamale Teaching Hospital
S.T.A.B.L.E. Instructor: Geralyn Sue Prullage, DNP, APN, NNP-BC
Board Member of Council of International Neonatal Nurses
Clinical Educator of Community of Neonatal Nursing Practice
Who attended the Learner Course?
4 BSc Neonatal Nurse Specialists and 9 General Nurses
Materials donated from S.T.A.B.L.E. for your course:
S.T.A.B.L.E. Learner Course Slides
Physical Exam and Gestational Age Assessment Slide Program
4. ABOUT THIS TRIP
I was traveling on behalf of the Council of International Neonatal Nursing [COINN] (coinnurses.org). This is an organization that has brought together over 5000 neonatal nurses across the world. The purpose of the trip was to train nurses to be experts in the field and to be preceptors.
People are often interested in knowing more about the region you visited. Please describe the community where S.T.A.B.L.E. was taught.
Tamale is in Northern Ghana. It is the largest city in the Northern region of Ghana. Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) has a busy neonatal unit that has doctors, pediatricians, advanced practice nurses, medical officers, and house officers. The unit has a well-run kangaroo mother care unit. TTH is the referral center for the northern region.
Describe some of the nursing and medical challenges being faced by the S.T.A.B.L.E. course attendees with regard to the provision of day-to-day neonatal care.
The unit had several actual CPAP machines, but they did not function well due to poor oxygen outlets and no oxygen tanks available. So, most of the babies that needed CPAP were placed on the “traditional” homemade CPAP. There were not enough incubators or overhead warmers for each admission to have their own incubator or overhead warmer. There is no actual transport system. Parents must pay for any transport needed and finances are difficult. So, often babies arrive on the back of motorcycles or the tricycle (a motorized golf cart adapted with seating). Every piece of equipment needed must be paid for by the family.
How do you envision The S.T.A.B.L.E. Program will help the healthcare providers you taught?
The participants are to be the preceptors for new employees and students. The understanding of hypoglycemia and thermoregulation is paramount. I envision that they have a better understanding of the identification and treatment of the things we talked about in the STABLE course. We actually admitted a baby with a subgaleal hemorrhage, and the participants were able to understand what was going on and were eager to provide appropriate care.