Cuban Medical Research Articles

Improvement strategy for the improvement of the professional pedagogical performance of teachers in the teaching of emotional integration

Latin American educational systems have favored efforts aimed at improving the quality of education, and in this purpose, the variable "pedagogical professional performance of the teacher" has been identified as very influential and decisive for the achievement of a qualitative leap in school management. The fulfillment of the objective of the "E" Study Plan in force in the Cuban Medical School, aimed at an adequate doctor-patient-family-community relationship in the subject Clinical Propedeutics and Medical Semiology (PCSM), requires a constant process of updating their knowledge, skills and values. The preparation of the clinical history, highlighting the psychosocial history, allows the student to integrate the semiographic findings with the emotional, temporo-spatial events that particularize each individual. Theoretical methods allow identifying different problems related to the integration of these aspects, we propose as Objective: To design an improvement strategy for the improvement of teachers' pedagogical professional performance in the teaching of emotional integration of the subject Clinical Propedeutics and Medical Semiology, of the FCM "Miguel Enríquez". The research agreed to define: emotion and emotional integration and to design the strategy through the AELI® KINETEST protocol to incorporate in the clinical history the semiography of emotions and to complement the physical examination with the use of the muscle test.

Cuban Medical Internationalism: A Paradigm for South–South Cooperation

In 2023, Cuba assumed the presidency of the Group of 77 + China, the world’s largest and most diverse multilateral bloc of countries. The election of Cuba to this role testifies to the island’s prestige among the Global South, recognition of its material contribution to developing countries, and promotion of South–South cooperation, particularly in the healthcare sector. Cuban medical internationalism tends to be discussed in the rather lonely and nostalgic category of “international solidarity”. While there is a rationale for underscoring its uniqueness in motivation, quantity and quality, doing so also facilitates the censoring or sidelining of this extraordinary assistance in international analysis. In the context of Cuba’s presidency of the Group of 77 + China, this article frames Cuban medical internationalism in relation to the United Nations principles for South–South cooperation, and the commitment to healthcare as a human right. It also draws on calculations of the monetary value of Cuba’s overseas development aid to provide a comparative assessment of the island’s contribution to the global south. After noting the key steps and achievements in the development of Cuba’s own public healthcare system, the article explores the origins of and motivations for Cuban medical internationalism, providing examples of the four forms of assistance which emerged in response to global circumstances, and which endure today. The article then demonstrates how Cuban international assistance is consistent with the UN’s Plan of Action to promote cooperation between developing nations. Finally, it discusses the economics of Cuban medical internationalism, and the campaign to discredit and sabotage Cuban medical exports by opponents of Cuban socialism.

In Haiti, Cubans Among First Responders, Again: Luis Orlando Oliveros-Serrano MD Coordinator, Cuban Medical Team in Haiti.

Soaring summer temperatures, systematic urban and political violence, unreliable infrastructure-power outages, water shortages, sporadic transportation and interruption of other basic services-plus the illness, death and economic straits wrought by COVID-19, are what Haitians awake to every day. On the morning of August 14, 2021, they also woke to the earth in the throes of violent, lethal convulsions caused by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, along the same fault line responsible for the devastating 2010 disaster and stronger still. As if this weren't enough, Tropical Storm Grace was bearing down on the nation, about to dump biblical amounts of rain on the heels of Tropical Storm Fred. When the Haitian President was assassinated on July 7, Haiti still had not received a single dose of any COVID-19 vaccine-indeed, it was the last country in the Americas to receive vaccines. Later that month, 500,000 doses arrived in the country, donated by the United States via COVAX, the WHO-led initiative to assure at least some vaccines reached low- and middle-income countries. In Haiti, getting those vaccines into the arms of the population is beset by cold chain, distribution and bureaucratic problems, and compounded by widespread vaccine hesitancy; when the earthquake struck, only 14,074 of those doses had been administered.[1,2] Suddenly there was a new, more urgent tragedy, the earthquake leaving thousands of dead, injured and displaced-perhaps hundreds of thousands once the real tally emerges. As in the 2010 quake, the doctors, nurses and technicians comprising Cuba's medical team in Haiti-a commitment Cuba has maintained with its Caribbean neighbor since 1998-were among the first responders. The 2010 relief effort included an additional 1500 health professionals and specialists from Cuba's Henry Reeve Emergency Medical Contingent. Just 24 hours after the August 14th quake, MEDICC Review spoke by phone with Dr Luis Orlando Oliveros-Serrano in Port-au-Prince, where he coordinates Cuba's medical team in Haiti. His disaster response experience had already taken him to Haiti twice before and to Pakistan, Bolivia and beyond.

The Campaign to Discredit Cuban Medical Internationalism

In the darkest weeks of the pandemic in Italy in March 2020, Cuba sent a contingent of 52 doctors and nurses to the hard-hit region of Lombardy, whose hospitals had been overwhelmed by patients. So...

Performance Evaluation on Science and Innovation Management Process in A Cuban Medical University

Performance Evaluation on Science and Innovation Management Process in A Cuban Medical University

Powerful Lessons from Cuban Medical Education Programs: Fostering the Social Contract in Athletic Training Programs

ContextThe Cuban medical education and health care systems provide powerful lessons to athletic training educators, clinicians, and researchers to guide educational reform initiatives and professional growth.ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the Cuban medical education system to create parallels for comparison and growth strategies to implement within athletic training in the United States.BackgroundCubans have experienced tremendous limitations in resources for decades yet have substantive success in medical education and health care programs. As a guiding practice, Cubans focus on whole-patient care and have established far-reaching research networks to help substantiate their work.SynthesisCuban medical education programs emphasize prevention, whole-patient care, and public health in a unique approach that reflects disablement models recently promoted in athletic training in the United States. Comprehensive access and data collection provide meaningful information for quality improvement of education and health care processes. Active community engagement, education, and interventions are tailored to meet the biopsychosocial needs of individuals and communities.ResultsCuban medical education and health care systems provide valuable lessons for athletic training programs to consider in light of current educational reform initiatives. Strong collaborations and rich integration of disablement models in educational programs and clinical practice may provide meaningful outcomes for athletic training programs. Educational reform should be considered an opportunity to expand the athletic training profession by embracing the evolving role of the athletic trainer in the competitive health care arena.Recommendation(s)Through careful consideration of Cuban medical education and health care initiatives, athletic training programs can better meet the contract with society as health care professionals by integrating the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's core competencies of patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice now promoted in the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education's 2020 Standards for Accreditation of Professional Athletic Training Programs.Conclusion(s)Educational and health care outcomes drive change. Quality improvement efforts transcend both education and health care. Athletic training can learn valuable lessons from the Cubans about innovation, preventative medicine, patient-centered community outreach, underserved populations, research initiatives, and globalization. Not unlike Cuba, athletic training has a unique opportunity to embrace the challenges associated with change to create a better future for athletic training students and professionals.

Cuban Medical Internationalism through a Feminist Perspective

Abstract This article analyses Cuban medical internationalism through a feminist International Relations lens. Our results are based on numerous in-depth semi-structured interviews and fieldwork conducted with both female and male participants in these programmes. The doctors we interviewed have concluded medical missions in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Angola and Ghana. We argue that examining Cuban medical internationalism from a feminist IR perspective gives us insights into the nuanced status of feminism within Cuban civil society, how international employment impacts family relations both positively and negatively, and how time spent abroad provides transformative experiences. This paper seeks to contribute to greater conversations on power, agency and gender in the global South.

A US Student Reflects on Her Cuban Medical Education

A US Student Reflects on Her Cuban Medical Education

A US Student Reflects on Her Cuban Medical Education.

At first I was skeptical about the opportunity for international candidates to study medicine for free in Cuba… Now, four years into my medical studies I believe living and studying in Cuba has shaped who I am and given me a host of applicable lessons of personal and academic growth. I am convinced that no other school would have offered me the support system, challenges and wisdom this experience entails. ELAM not only represents the place where I am getting my medical education; it is a place where I have found a family, become bilingual and made extraordinary memories.

Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism ‐ by Kirk, John M.

Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism ‐ by Kirk, John M.

Why Cuban Solidarity Was Ebola's Antidote: How Cuban Medical Internationalism is Radically Changing Health Geographies in the Global South

When the world responded to the 2014 Ebola outbreak a lot went wrong. Vaccines were promised but never delivered. Health workers were called for, but never arrived. Patients needed urgent care, but were forced into quarantine. Amid repeated calls for urgent action and increased care to the Ebola stricken countries in West Africa many nations acquiesced. Yet economically hobbled Cuba offered more health care workers, established more hospital space, and trained more people in the fight against Ebola than any other country in the world. It is a seemingly exceptional effort considering the lacking response of many nations. As this paper argues, Cuba's Ebola effort is a normative response within its broader commitment to solidarity. This paper demonstrates that Cuba employs a solidarity approach to global health that meets the health needs of some of the world's most marginalized populations, while contributing to its own economic and political goals. What is more, this approach works to further Cuba's own political interests by facilitating cooperation through health care provision. The paper explores the program design, logistical operations, and broader conceptualization of Cuba's Ebola efforts based on testimony from Cuban health workers in the field, and health officials in Havana. Cuba's solidarity approach to global health outreach stands in stark contrast to many global health efforts, and, if expanded upon, it could drastically improve global health efforts.

Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism

Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism

Review of Healthcare Without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism

Healthcare Without Borders : Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism , by John M. Kirk, University Press of Florida, 2015.

Book Review: John Kirk, Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism

Book Review: John Kirk, <i>Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism</i>

Surgical capacity building in Timor-Leste: a review of the first 15 years of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons-led Australian Aid programme.

Timor-Leste suffered a destructive withdrawal by the Indonesian military in 1999, leaving only 20 Timorese-based doctors and no practising specialists for a population of 700 000 that has now grown to 1.2 million. This article assesses the outcomes and impact of Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) specialist medical support from 2001 to 2015. Three programmes were designed collaboratively with the Timor-Leste Ministry of Health and Australian Aid. The RACS team began to provide 24/7 resident surgical and anaesthesia services in the capital, Dili, from July 2001. The arrival of the Chinese and Cuban Medical Teams provided a medical workforce, and the Cubans initiated undergraduate medical training for about 1000 nationals both in Cuba and in Timor-Leste, whilst RACS focused on specialist medical training. Australian Aid provided AUD$20 million through three continuous programmes over 15 years. In the first 10 years over 10 000 operations were performed. Initially only 10% of operations were done by trainees but this reached 77% by 2010. Twenty-one nurse anaesthetists were trained in-country, sufficient to cover the needs of each hospital. Seven Timorese doctors gained specialist qualifications (five surgery, one ophthalmology and one anaesthesia) from regional medical schools in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia and Malaysia. They introduced local specialist and family medicine diploma programmes for the Cuban graduates. Timor-Leste has developed increasing levels of surgical and anaesthetic self-sufficiency through multi-level collaboration between the Ministry of Health, Universidade Nacional de Timor Lorosa'e, and sustained, consistent support from external donors including Australian Aid, Cuba and RACS.

Cuban Medical Internationalism: The Ebola Campaign of 2014–15

This article examines the Cuban response to Ebola in West Africa, specifically in the three countries where the Cuban medical personnel focused their efforts – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It analyses the situation in West Africa as the disease rapidly spread, the international response and the Cuban reaction. In particular, it assesses the impact of Cuba's contribution and concludes with some thoughts about what can be learned from this short (6-month) campaign of the Henry Reeve Contingent, which specialises in responding to natural disasters and medical emergencies. The article finds that there are important lessons for the international community regarding responses to future outbreaks. Diseases such as Ebola do not respect international borders and cannot be overcome with promises of resources or money. In this case, Cuba's response – of a highly trained healthcare workforce of doctors, nurses, technicians and others – remains unique.

South African–Cuban Medical Collaboration: students’ perceptions of training and perceived competence in clinical skills at a South African institution

Background: The South African–Cuban Medical Collaboration programme aims to alleviate the critical shortage of practitioners in local South African rural settings. The students who return from Cuban-based facilities in their fourth year experience difficulty, especially in clinical settings, upon joining the MB ChB final-year student programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Attempts to support their skills acquisition for local practice have led to an investigation of their prior clinical skills exposures, the curricular context and exposures in Cuba in which skills had been acquired, and students’ perceptions of their competence in clinical skills.Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study explored the clinical experiences of the 2013 cohort of students. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through questionnaires that explored the curricular approach and setting of clinical skills training in Cuba, the students’ exposure to clinical skills and their perceptions of their competence at performing these skills.Results: Students experienced the Cuban curriculum as didactic and lecture intensive as opposed to the systematic, problem-based curriculum offered in South Africa. Clinical training in Cuba occurs in hospital wards while local students first train in a clinical skills laboratory prior to hospital exposures. The majority of students self-reported a lack of clinical exposure to 35 of an overall 75 core-skills list as identified by the undergraduate UKZN curriculum. In addition, they reported an inability to perform 71 of the 75 (95%) skills independently.Conclusion: This study has highlighted a mismatch between the focus and scope of clinical training offered to students studying in Cuba and those at a South African institution.

Cuba's Medical Mission

&lt;div class="bookreview"&gt;John M. Kirk, &lt;em&gt;Health Care without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism&lt;/em&gt; (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2015), 376 pages, $79.95, hardback.&lt;/div&gt;When the Ebola virus began to spread through western Africa in fall 2014, much of the world panicked. Soon, over 20,000 people were infected, more than 8,000 had died, and worries mounted that the death toll could reach into hundreds of thousands. The United States provided military support; other countries promised money. Cuba was the first nation to respond with what was most needed: it sent 103 nurses and 62 doctors as volunteers to Sierra Leone. With 4,000 medical staff (including 2,400 doctors) already in Africa, Cuba was prepared for the crisis before it began: there had already been nearly two dozen Cuban medical personnel in Sierra Leone.&amp;hellip; Since many governments did not know how to respond to Ebola, Cuba trained volunteers from other nations at Havana's Pedro Kour&amp;iacute; Institute of Tropical Medicine. In total, Cuba taught 13,000 Africans, 66,000 Latin Americans, and 620 Caribbeans how to treat Ebola without being infected. It was the first time that many had heard of Cuba's emergency response teams.&amp;hellip; The Ebola experience is one of many covered in John Kirk's new book &lt;em&gt;Health Care without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;p class="mrlink"&gt;&lt;p class="mrpurchaselink"&gt;&lt;a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-67-number-9" title="Vol. 67, No. 9: February 2016" target="_self"&gt;Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the &lt;em&gt;Monthly Review&lt;/em&gt; website.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

South African–Cuban Medical Collaboration: students’ perceptions of training and perceived competence in clinical skills at a South African institution

Background: The South African–Cuban Medical Collaboration programme aims to alleviate the critical shortage of practitioners in local South African rural settings. The students who return from Cuban-based facilities in their fourth year experience difficulty, especially in clinical settings, upon joining the MB ChB final-year student programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Attempts to support their skills acquisition for local practice have led to an investigation of their prior clinical skills exposures, the curricular context and exposures in Cuba in which skills had been acquired, and students’ perceptions of their competence in clinical skills.Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study explored the clinical experiences of the 2013 cohort of students. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through questionnaires that explored the curricular approach and setting of clinical skills training in Cuba, the students’ exposure to clinical skills and their perceptions of their competence ...

“To Fight These Powerful Trusts and Free the Medical Profession”: Medicine, Class Formation, and Revolution in Cuba, 1925–1935

AbstractThis essay explores the radicalization of the Cuban medical class in the context of the economic and political crises of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Organized under the Cuban Medical Federation, physicians targeted Havana's Spanish-run hospital system for its low wages and unfair practices. During these years, an active campaign to overthrow the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado influenced a new generation of young doctors and medical students, who pushed the federation to link its class interests to the broader political and social problems of the Cuban people. I argue that the social forces unleashed with the 1933 fall of Machado transformed the medical class, leading to increased support for the radical reconfiguration of Cuban medical practice. After a painful medical strike, the failure of international mediation efforts, and increased government hostility to the federation, the Cuban medical class increasingly pushed for the radical expansion of the public medical sector.