Elective Name: Global Health
Elective Mentor: Dr. Amye Farag
Elective Location: The elective site will vary from year to year at the discretion of the Global Health Elective leadership and based on the availability of international sites.
Elective Duration: 2 or 4 weeks
Elective Description: The experience of diversity and culture can be one of the most rewarding and enhancing opportunities for a physician-in-training. Stepping into another place and confronting unusual and new diseases can stimulate the learner and instill a lasting impression on their medical education training.
Educational Goals:
To improve skills in the diagnosis and treatment of tropical diseases
To gain an understanding of health issues on an international scale
To gain more experience in interacting with patient populations with some or more of the following characteristics: poor, disadvantaged, underserved, non-English speakers, and/or rural
To better understand health care delivery systems outside the United States
To prepare residents for possible careers in public health and/or global health
Educational Objectives:
PATIENT CARE:
Teach learners to gather accurate and essential information in a system without modern technological equipment.
Enhance residents’ ability to make diagnostic plans for patients in a system of limited technology and financial resources.
Teach residents to recognize acute diseases that are rare in the United States.
Teach residents to develop management options for treatment of diseases rare in the United States.
Teach residents to develop management options for treatment of diseases common in the United States but with limited resources.
MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE
Teach residents about acute medical diseases in developing world countries.
Enhance residents’ ability to integrate and apply their basic science knowledge to these uncommon diseases.
Expose residents through reading and clinical experience to various infectious diseases not usually seen in the United States.
PRACTICE-BASED LEARNING AND IMPROVEMENT
Expose the residents to the local patient population, helping them to observe how local health practices and superstition affect the patient.
Demonstrate to residents how to analyze and improve the quality of hospital and clinic practice in a developing country with limited technological and financial resources.
INTERPERSONAL AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Expose the resident to the challenges of cross-cultural communication in a multilingual context.
Guide residents in forming healthy cross-cultural relationships.
Teach residents the practical and ethical challenges of interpretation services in a clinical setting.
PROFESSIONALISM
Demonstrate to the residents a respect and compassion for each individual patient.
Expose the residents to the ethical dilemmas posed in an overseas clinic or hospital such as limited resources, needs of poor patients, a competitive local medical community, maintaining the ethos of the hospital or clinic practice.
Demonstrate integrity in all aspects of medical practice.
SYSTEMS-BASED PRACTICE
Expose residents to the various health care systems existent in the international medical community.
Expose the resident to specific ways in which the specific hospital or clinic experience relates to the health care community as consultants, referrals, and partnerships.
Expose residents to medical mission life and a possible career in global health
Elective Requirements:
Please complete this ethics curriculum before you travel and submit the completion certificate to elective supervisors:
Cultural humility and Ethics in Global Health: http://ethicsandglobalhealth.org/curriculum.shtml
Please participate in this SIM curriculum before your travel:
SUGARPREP SIM Cases
Read/watch before you go:
Bocher Declaration: Document will be emailed to you
Beyond Medical Missions Article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KNyWxf_zKRAZcA_-seHD9toiuwfoczFs/view?usp=drive_link
Scrutinizing Short Term Medical Trips Article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B_VTBTb-1WgypqbbxBMTLkWpxknM5V4o/view?usp=drive_link
Advice To Parachuting Docs: Think Before You Jump Into Poor Countries: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/04/04/599419888/advice-to-parachutingdocs-think-before-you-jump-into-poor-countries
First, Do No Harm: A Qualitative Research Documentary: https://vimeo.com/22008886
A link to CultureGrams for the country that you are visiting can be found on this page: https://ghi.llu.edu/resources
Resources:
AFEM Handbook of Acute and Emergency Care (in the residency library)
The Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine (in the residency library)
WHO e-Pocketbook of hospital care for children in limited resource settings: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tF45mBZFlvTdb6AnYMN7f4yuPSYtaOBW/view?usp=drive_link
Grey’s Quick Reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18jossD_Ymz3uUHTIFaATZCwvWO4ehV2D/view?usp=drive_link
Tips for Success: It is expected that the resident will independently help structure the rotation and the learning objectives based on their interests and goals. The resident will be expected to prepare for the elective by doing background reading about the site country and about diseases common to that region.
Visit the travel clinic at LLU for recommendations regarding travel prophylaxis: https://lluh.org/services/center-health-promotion/international-travel-clinic
Register your travel with the US State Department: https://step.state.gov/step/
Be aware of travel advisories for the countries you are visiting: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html