I am planning to go to Lilongwe, Malawi to work at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) for 5 weeks between March and April 2025.
I first went to KCH as a Texas Children's Global Health Corps physician in 2019. Since then, I have returned to KCH supervise trainees in providing direct patient care, develop educational programs and simulations for trainees, and publish research regarding mortality at the hospital (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37339764/)
The goal of my trip is to continue to provide supervision for clinical care and to mentor a Malawian physician in conducting a qualitative research study.
I will provide direct clinical coverage 4 days a week for 4-5 weeks for a pediatric department that evaluates 100,000 patients per year and only has about 1-3 fully-trained pediatricians available. I will supervise 4 MMED candidates (i.e. pediatric residents) and up to 10-12 interns who are rotating through the department.
My other goal is to mentor a Malawian physician in conducting a qualitative research study investigating the enablers and barriers to implementing an early warning system to detect clinical deterioration in admitted children at KCH. I began mentoring this physician starting April 2024 and have met with her every 2-3 weeks virtually to develop a research proposal. During this trip, I will help my co-investigator learn how to analyze the data we have collected and to begin writing a manuscript.
Malawian children will be benefit from this project by receiving pediatric care that may not otherwise be able to receive. About 50% of the population of Malawi is under the age of 18 years, so improving the care of children is essential in improving the healthcare of the country.
Malawian physicians will also benefit because they will be learning clinical skills and knowledge from me. My Malawian co-researcher will, in particular, benefit from learning academic skills such as analyzing research data and preparing a research paper. These academic skills will help her succeed as one of the few Malawian pediatricians in the country and a future leader.
I expect to oversee the care of hundreds of hospitalized Malawian children throughout my trip. I also hope that I will be able to help educate Malawian pediatricians in training. As there are less than 20 fully trained Malawian pediatricians, every single pediatrician I can educate, I hope, can make a tremendous impact.
After I return, I hope to use what I've learned to continue to support my Malawian colleagues remotely through education and research support.
The pediatric department had a census between 300-400 patients, and I was responsible for some of the sickest patients admitted to the hospital. We helped patients who had malaria, seizures, renal failure, shock, and respiratory failure to name a few.
I taught Malawian medical students and residents at the bedside and also with a formal lecture on stridor.
My Malawian co-investigator and I performed a focus group and began qualitative research data analysis.
