Building Local Capacity for Burn Care Using a Training of Trainers Model: Implementation and Outcomes in Tanzania

BACKGROUND: Burns contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality in Tanzania. Despite the high demand for burn care, low- and middle-income countries face critical shortages of trained professionals and educators. We previously aimed to address these gaps using a Training of Trainers (ToT) course, which sought to equip local healthcare professionals with the skills to teach burn care in Tanzania. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of this course as a scalable model for capacity-building in burn care. METHODS: A ToT course held on November 7th and 8th, 2024 had 11 participants. Education topics included teaching skills, mentorship, and burn care principles. Graduates of the course subsequently served as trainers for a Basics of Burn Care course held from November 13th through the 15th, 2024. This course was attended by 21 participants, including nurses and doctors. Both courses used interactive teaching methods, practical exercises, and pre- and post-tests to measure knowledge gains. Trainer and participant feedback were used to evaluate program effectiveness. RESULTS: Graduates of the ToT course successfully transitioned into roles as trainers and received high satisfaction scores for communication (4.6/5) and audience engagement (4.7/5). The Basics of Burn Care course resulted in a 16% average improvement in participant knowledge, with high overall satisfaction (4.6/5). CONCLUSION: This ToT course demonstrates effective capacity-building by training trainers who successfully facilitated a follow-up course, which improved the knowledge of healthcare providers in attendance. The structured mentorship and interactive teaching methods highlighted in this study are a scalable model for sustainable surgical education in low-resource settings. Long-term evaluations will assess the impact of this intervention on clinical practice and knowledge retention.