I will be working alongside Mozambican emergency medicine residents who are a part of the only Emergency Medicine Residency in Mozambique (PLEDGE Health). I will be with emergency medicine residents and a pediatric emergency fellow from my home institution; and we will work in the general and pediatric emergency departments, providing patient centered teaching for the Mozambican residents. I will also participate in weekly didactic sessions, helping to facilitate learning towards the Mozambican EM Boards. I had the opportunity to work with this program two years ago and learned first-hand how the limited resources directly affect not only patient care but also education. These limited resources means that the residents need to practice medicine in creative ways. While they are able to provide excellent care, it does make it challenging to practice in repetition the gold standard of care, making studying for Boards outside of clinical practice crucial. My participation will help reinforce the Board’s standards.
The Emergency Medicine Residents of the PLEDGE Health program will benefit the most from my project. I will be working directly with them for the entirety of my trip in Mozambique. This group is important, as Mozambique has a deficit of residency trained physicians, particularly emergency medicine trained ones. Children in Mozambique are 11 times more likely to die before the age of 5 than children in the US. Teaching standards of care for emergency medicine is crucial to help these young physicians improve the lives of so many in their community and country.
With the goal of providing hands on education while I am working with the PLEDGE Health residents, I hope that this trip will also provide a foundation of international community to provide support while I am not there. Working directly with residents, I think that it will provide comradery and professional relationships so that they feel that questions about patient care and furthering education can be easily asked between both parties for the expansive future. Because as physicians, we all have a common goal of treating our patients to improve their lives.
During my trip, I worked closely with the Emergency Medicine residents at the Mavalane Central Hospital in the Pediatric Emergency Department. We treated a lot of bronchiolitis, asthma and pneumonia, as well as other infections. I taught resuscitative care and we utilized the limited resources we had to treat our sickest patients. It was challenging but good to teach along side the hard working residents who care so much for their patients and community. I also gave a few lectures about pediatric emergency specific care at their didactics. I had a great time talking through past cases with the residents I have had and using them as educational opportunities. I made great connections, and look forward to future trips to work with these great physicians.
