Build upon my prior medical missions to Bhutan and provide grand rounds on “Pediatric Antibiotic Stewardship” (a topic chosen by the hospital president and the department heads) at the 350 bed National Referral Hospital as part of the 40th year anniversary commemorating the partnership between “Health Volunteers Overseas” and the Jigme Dorji Wangchuk Hospital. While not actively presenting, my responsibilities will include providing on-going training to pediatric residents and nurses in topics related to child health.
My responsibilities will be to:
1. Present Grand Rounds
2. Provide case presentations and discussion
3. Provide bedside clinical teaching and demonstration
The way I plan to make a difference is to:
1. be a helping hand in a country where there is a significant shortage of pediatricians
2. teach evidenced based medicine to the local medical students/residents
3. enhance medical students/residents critical thinking skills
Local Bhutanese medical staff and pediatric patients.
The reason I chose to go back to Bhutan is because of the unique features of the country and its people. It is considered one of the most remote and isolated countries in the world and yet they are consistently recognized as having the happiest people in the world. They have a longstanding monarchy and their king is very well liked. People in Bhutan live by the principles of Buddhism and have great respect for nature and animals. It is a very peaceful country that unfortunately suffered greatly from the COVID-19 pandemic and is now slowly recovering. The staff at Jigme Dorji Wangchuk Hospital has voiced strong interest in establishing a longstanding working relationship with me going forward and I couldn’t be more excited.
My expertise lies in pediatric inpatient medicine, pediatric infectious diseases, and breastfeeding medicine with a strong passion for medical education. The expected impact I will have while training pediatricians at the JDWNR will be to instill in them more evidence-based practices. Furthermore, I hope to inspire them to always want to learn more, to become teachers themselves and to embrace medical experiences abroad that would enrich their knowledge.
Working at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral (JDWNR) Hospital in Thimphu for the third time will help strengthen the previous connections made and the relationship between Health Volunteers Overseas and their hospital. Furthermore, I hope to establish a foundation to facilitate future opportunities for Bhutanese pediatric residents to visit the US and vis versa.
The entire pediatric department at the National Referral hospital got to participate in my antibiotic stewardship talk that was specific and relevant to the context of Bhutan. After diligently reviewing WHO and Bhutan antibiotic guidelines and comparing those to country specific antibiograms we were able to have a very meaningful discussion. Bhutan has a 2026-2030 antibiotic resistance masterplan and I hope I inspired people in the audience to understand how future guidelines should be built.
Aside from the lecture, I participated on daily rounds providing bedside clinical teaching and demonstration which the residents/interns and medical students greatly benefited from.
