Dr. Janey Phelps first visited Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) as part of a surgical trip in 2014 and she quickly realized the need to partner with the anesthesia clinical officers at KCH to enhance the peri-operative anesthesia care. Anesthesia clinical officers have 18 months of training after which they are the anesthesia providers for all ages, surgical cases, and provide all the medical care in the intensive care unit. Due to the profound shortage of medical doctors in low to middle income countries (LMICs) clinical officers are used in every specialty field in the majority LMICs. There are only 4 anesthesia physicians in the country of Malawi with a population 18 million and none are in the city of Lilongwe. The main focus of this partnership is to provide continual medical education to the anesthesia clinical officers and to assist in the training of the anesthesia clinical officer students. An International Resident/Fellow rotation was developed to help fulfill this mission and provide UNC anesthesia trainees with a robust Global Health experience.
Malawi Africa. Anesthesia clinical officers have 18 months of training after which they are the anesthesia providers for all ages, surgical cases, and provide all the medical care in the intensive care unit. Due to the profound shortage of medical doctors in low to middle income countries (LMICs) clinical officers are used in every specialty field in the majority LMICs. There are only 4 anesthesia physicians in the country of Malawi with a population 18 million and none are in the city of Lilongwe. The main focus of this partnership is to provide continual medical education to the anesthesia clinical officers and to assist in the training of the anesthesia clinical officer students.
The resident/fellow clinical experience is to provide focused, individualized education in the areas of global health, anesthesia in low resourced areas, and to offer continuing medical education opportunities for the anesthesia clinical officers and students through the residents. The Anesthesia International elective focuses on both clinical exposure and on providing education to the Malawian clinical officers and students. The collaborative relationship with the anesthesia clinical officers at Kamuzu Central Hospital offers a meaningful opportunity for the residents to make a lasting and positive impact through education and quality improvement research.
This was a fantastic trip! We spent the majority of our time in education of the health care workers who provide anesthesia services in Malawi. We provided high-fidelity simulation manniquins and gave training on how to use them as well as how to develop scenarios that meet the specific educational objectives of the various learners in the Health Education School and College of Health Sciences. We provided many gifts of small medical devices/equipment to the trainees. We implemented a portable POCUS machine into the ORs for use in peripherial nerve blocks, venous/arterial access, and cardiopulmonary monitoring. We also gave training sessions on how to best use these tools. We strengthened the bonds of friendship with our colleagues in Malawi and had strategic planning meetings on how to help build capacity. We awarded multiple educational scholarships to trainees and medical students.
