Beyond The Mask: Innovation & Opportunities For CRNAs Expanding Nurse Anesthesia Education and Practice in Low-Income Countries
What does it take to deliver anesthesia in a hospital with no ventilator, scarce medication, and power that cuts out mid-surgery?
Today we’re joined by Dr. Mark Newton, pediatric anesthesiologist and longtime medical missionary, Mary Mungai, one of Kenya’s first licensed nurse anesthetists and a leader in anesthesia education across East Africa; and Jackie Rowles, IFNA President and founder of Our Hearts Your Hands will take you far beyond the walls of the US Hospitals and surgery centers into low income countries where nurse anesthetists are delivering care under some of the most resource-limited and demanding conditions in the world.
Together, they share extraordinary stories of resilience, courage, and compassion — from training the first nurse anesthetists in Kenya to bringing safe anesthesia to war-torn regions like South Sudan and Somaliland. It’s a look at how education, mentorship, and global partnerships are transforming access to safe surgical care — one provider, one patient, and one country at a time.
Here’s some of what you’ll hear in this episode:
🌍 Global Perspective: An inside look at CRNAs serving in Africa’s most resource-limited hospitals.
🇰🇪 Kenya’s First Nurse Anesthetist: Mary Mungai’s story of building training programs from the ground up.
💉 Training the Trainers: How education multiplies impact across borders.
⚕️ The Supply Crisis: Performing surgery without halothane, oxygen, or IV fluids.
🤝 Collaboration Over Competition: How CRNAs and physicians work side by side to save lives.
💖 A Global Call to Action: “We didn’t choose where we were born — but we can choose to help.”
Learn more about Our Heart Your Hands: https://www.ourheartsyourhands.org/
Visit us online: https://beyondthemaskpodcast.com/
The 1099 CRNA Institute: https://aana.com/1099
Get the CE Certificate here (and directly submit to the NBCRNA): https://beyondthemaskpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Beyond-the-Mask-CE-Cert-FILLABLE.pdf
Help us grow by leaving a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-the-mask-innovation-opportunities-for-crnas/id1440309246
Now you can watch the show on YouTube! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCknrmkRxiwtYk7LUjSV6wmw?sub_confirmation=1