The Clinical Education Partnership Initiative: an innovative approach to global health education.

Aliza Monroe-Wise,Minnie Kibore,William Bremner,Ruth Nduati,James Kiarie,Carey Farquhar,Frederick Thurston Drake,Joseph Mburu,King Holmes

doi:10.1186/s12909-014-0246-5

Abstract

BackgroundDespite evidence that international clinical electives can be educationally and professionally beneficial to both visiting and in-country trainees, these opportunities remain challenging for American residents to participate in abroad. Additionally, even when logistically possible, they are often poorly structured. The Universities of Washington (UW) and Nairobi (UoN) have enjoyed a long-standing research collaboration, which recently expanded into the UoN Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Based on MEPI in Kenya, the Clinical Education Partnership Initiative (CEPI) is a new educational exchange program between UoN and UW. CEPI allows UW residents to partner with Kenyan trainees in clinical care and teaching activities at Naivasha District Hospital (NDH), one of UoN’s MEPI training sites in Kenya.MethodsUW and UoN faculty collaborated to create a curriculum and structure for the program. A Chief Resident from the UW Department of Medicine coordinated the program at NDH. From August 2012 through April 2014, 32 UW participants from 5 medical specialties spent between 4 and 12 weeks working in NDH. In addition to clinical duties, all took part in formal and informal educational activities. Before and after their rotations, UW residents completed surveys evaluating clinical competencies and cross-cultural educational and research skills. Kenyan trainees also completed surveys after working with UW residents for three months.ResultsUW trainees reported a significant increase in exposure to various tropical and other diseases, an increased sense of self-reliance, particularly in a resource-limited setting, and an improved understanding of how social and cultural factors can affect health. Kenyan trainees reported both an increase in clinical skills and confidence, and an appreciation for learning a different approach to patient care and professionalism.ConclusionsAfter participating in CEPI, both Kenyan and US trainees noted improvement in their clinical knowledge and skills and a broader understanding of what it means to be clinicians. Through structured partnerships between institutions, educational exchange that benefits both parties is possible.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-014-0246-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Despite evidence that international clinical electives can be educationally and professionally beneficial to both visiting and in-country trainees, these opportunities remain challenging for American residents to participate in abroad
Trainees from Naivasha District Hospital (NDH) reported learning from Universities of Washington (UW) residents most frequently during ward rounds, teaching conferences, and informal educational settings
They ranked surgical theatre and teaching conferences to be most helpful. 100% of NDH trainees reported feeling more confident about medical knowledge and more confident taking care of patients as a result of their interaction with UW residents

Summary

Introduction

Despite evidence that international clinical electives can be educationally and professionally beneficial to both visiting and in-country trainees, these opportunities remain challenging for American residents to participate in abroad. Formal training programs involving regularly scheduled, structured group didactics for doctors recruited to work in rural Africa have been shown to increase “professional socialization,” or the “learning of attitudes, norms, self images, values, beliefs and behavioral patterns associated with professional practice,” in addition to clinical knowledge and skills [9,10]. This enhanced sense of connection was thought to be related to the mode of training rather than the content, and led to long-term professional relationships and increased job satisfaction [9]. There are numerous barriers in place for structured continuing medical education in most healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa [11]

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