We formed a small group of interested emergency physicians (both senior residents and attending emergency physicians) interested in global health equity to create a 3-month introductory seminar on the specialty of Emergency Medicine to be given to senior medical students in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since Emergency Medicine is not a developed specialty in Cambodia, we reached out to the Dean of the University of Puthisastra Medical School about developing the course and presenting it as an elective for their senior medical students. We have worked with their Dean’s office to create a course that meets their accreditation standards (similar to ACGME standards) that will include 29 webinar sessions (each scheduled for 1 ½ hours) which will follow the recommendations of the Clerkship Directors of Emergency Medicine (CDEM) medical student curriculum. The course will begin on September 4, 2025, and run through Nov 19, 2025 and will be given on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays at 9 AM (Cambodian time).
This grant proposal is to support our 3 day capstone project where we (myself, my co-resident, and one of our associate program directors) will travel to Phnom Penh, to work with the students in-person and to teach clinical skills and work with the students on their patient interactions using an OSCE format. On the third day, their learning will be assessed both through a written final exam (40% of their grade) and an OSCE evaluation (60% of their grade). We will also be gathering data on the student’s learning experience to provide feedback for the next iteration of the course.
Although the attendings and residents associated with the project are from Harbor-UCLA, it is an individual project that is not being sponsored by the medical center or university. In addition, the residents and attendings involved will be using their own vacation time to teach and to travel to Phnom Penh.
As Emergency Medicine is not a developed specialty in Cambodia, this course will provide medical students with early exposure to the specialty and help equip them to manage patients with life-threatening or urgent conditions. In the 1970s Cambodia experienced a genocide and war that lasted until the early 1990s and the country is still recovering from that tumultuous period. The healthcare system in Cambodia is still undergoing reform and based on my review only one large public university provides postgraduate training in critical care medicine. In an observational study of adults seeking emergency care at two public hospitals in Cambodia, researchers found a high admission-to-death ratio and limited application of diagnostic techniques. Additionally, a cross-sectional survey assessing the capacity of the Cambodian emergency care system highlighted education as a key factor in bridging performance gaps. As such, educational interventions represent a critical area for growth and development of emergency and critical care medicine in Cambodia.
Our goal is to improve participants’ confidence and competence in caring for critically ill patients. The curriculum is designed to build foundational knowledge and practical skills in five key areas:
I. Foundational knowledge of Emergency Medicine
II. Initial approach to the emergency patient
III. Diagnostic testing and interpretation
IV. Emergency stabilization and resuscitation
V. Emergency procedures
To ensure the course addresses local needs, I am developing a needs assessment to identify knowledge gaps, available resources, and how we can best support the students. The hands-on procedural training during the capstone visit will be a critical component to their critical care education. In partnership with their Dean’s Office, we will assess learner outcomes through written evaluations and OSCEs during the in-person portion. These will be compared to baseline data collected via a pre-course survey.
Using student feedback, assessment results, and overall learner experience, we will revise and adapt this curriculum in collaboration with our partners at the University of Puthisastra. This pilot serves as the foundation as we develop a reproducible model that we hope will eventually be led by local faculty to ensure sustainable growth and long-term impact.
Our team taught an Introduction to Emergency Medicine course for sixth-year medical students at the University of Puthisastra in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We conducted 29 virtual sessions over 10 weeks using case-based discussions focused on the early recognition and management of life-threatening conditions. A three-day in-person practicum followed, during which students rotated through procedural skills, simulation, and clinical encounters, reinforcing key elements of communication, rapid assessment, and foundational resuscitation techniques. This course provided medical students with exposure to the specialty of Emergency Medicine and equipped them with practical skills to care for critically ill patients, complementing their existing medical knowledge and training.
