Launching Your International Healthcare Career Nicholas Comninellis, MD, MPH President, Institute for International Medicine www.inmed.us
Presentation Objectives At the completion of this presentation, participants will be able to more effectively: Incorporate the principles of good decision making Understand the multiple modalities of healthcare service toward forgotten people Reach wise personal decisions leading regarding professional commitments
Launching Into International Healthcare: It’s Not Just Academic Somolia, 1993
Launching Into International Healthcare It’s Not Just Academic Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone 2008
Launching Into International Healthcare It’s Not Just Academic Angolan Civil War, 1961-2004
Launching Into International Healthcare It’s Not Just Academic Forgotten People Among Us
My Entrance Into International Medicine In high school I read his exemplary account of courage and compassion. “I want to do the same!” was my heartfelt conviction.
Two Weeks As A Junior Medical Student Maternity Hospital in Port-au-Prince Haiti
Two Months As A Senior Medical Student Clinica Evangelica Morava, Honduras
Two Months As A Resident Physician Galmi Hospital in Niger & Burkina Faso
One Year As An Attending Physician Shanghai Charity Hospital
Two Years As An Attending Physician Kalukembe Hospital, Angola, southern Africa
Who Is The Most Influential Person In Healthcare Toward Forgotten People? Albert Schweitzer? 1940-50s Paul Farmer? Tom Dooley? 1980-90s 1960-70s
“We want to follow their example and help, too!” Record Interest Among Healthcare Professionals & Students
“We know the world’s in need…”
“But, We Have Questions”
“Questions like…”
Big Decisions Regarding Healthcare Toward Forgotten People Professional specialty Service modality Community to serve Sending organization Language learning Time commitment
“In the battle of life we are bombarded with invitations, solicitations, advertisements, and apparent commitments. We are inundated on all sides by forces that clamor for our time, talents, money, influence, wisdom. We fight this battle by making decisions!”
Decision Making Is A Skill Time and discipline are necessary to develop it!
Essential Decision-Making Skills Pray for wisdom List the options Weight the pros & cons Get recommendations No Hurry
List The Options Record all options, answers, or alternatives that come to mind Invite friends to brain storm with you Solutions often come to us after we eliminate preconceived notions, and imagine the formerly inconceivable.
Weigh The Pros Weight The Cons Spencer Johnson, author of The One Minute Manager : “Our poor decisions were based on illusions we believed at the time, and our better decisions on realities we recognized in time.”
Where In The World?
Location Pros & Cons 1=bad 3=good Ghana Ethiopia Angola Yemen China Language difficulty 2 3 2 1 1 New Opportunity 1 3 3 1 1 Inner peace 1 1 3 1 2 School for kids 1 1 1 1 2 Political stability 3 1 2 2 2 Potential student work 1 3 2 1 3 Potential for impact 1 3 3 1 3 TOTAL 10 15 15 7 14
Get Recommendations Ask your parents, friends, professors Ask those who’ve made similar decisions Proverbs 15:22: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
No Hurry! “The urgent is seldom important & the important seldom urgent” - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” - Proverbs 21:5
Become A Skilled Decision Maker!
Obstacles Ahead! Launching Into International Healthcare Is Not So Easy
What Are These Obstacles?
Disease ARE Different Cerebral Malaria In Honduras
Medical Resources ARE Minimal 24 Drug Pharmacy In Angola
Cultural Context IS Challenging In China, traditional people are encouraged to donate blood, but few are willing, believing that blood contains one’s “life force,” and that to have their blood removed is therefore a death-defying event.
Leadership Skills ARE Deficient Many health problems can’t be solved one person at a time. They demand community- wide action.
Big Decisions Regarding Healthcare Toward Forgotten People Professional specialty Service modality Community to serve Sending organization Language learning Time commitment
Decisions About Your Health Profession Specialty How Should You Go About Choosing A Field?
Decisions About Your Health Profession Specialty Choose the field that most interests you! Misconceptions about primary care Important role for narrow specialists
Special Opportunities For Pharmacists Development of disease management protocols Research into greatly needed diagnostics and therapeutics Local pharmaceutical production and procurement Therapeutic safety monitoring
Special Opportunities For Nurses Disease prevention Health education Maternal-child health care Health profession education Community development Patient education Disease management
Special Opportunities For Physical Therapists Innumerable hidden disabilities Unrecognized rehab potential Promise of reintegration Virtuous profession Exemplary role modeling
“What About Training In Public Health?”
“What About Training In Tropical Medicine?”
“Equipping healthcare professionals & students to serve the forgotten”
Exploring Medical Missions Conference
International Public Health Intensive Course Disease prevention and community development. Offered each winter, summer and fall.
International Medicine & Public Health Intensive Hybrid Course Managing the diseases of poverty in low-resource settings. Offered each winter, summer and fall.
Courses On Topics Of • International Public Health • Diseases Of Poverty • Cross-Cultural Competency • Health Leadership • Disaster Medicine Management • International HIV Medicine
INMED’s Core Learning Resource
Supervised Service Learning in Medicine and Public Health Africa Asia Angola Bangladesh Cameroon China Ethiopia India Ghana Macau China Pakistan Kenya Philippines South Africa Papua New Guinea Tanzania Uganda Kudjip Nazarene Hospital Papua New Guinea Zambia
Supervised Service Learning in Medicine and Public Health Americas Dominican Rep Ecuador Guatemala Haiti Honduras USA Middle East Jordan Clinica Evangelica Morava United Arab Emirates Honduras
1:1 Supervised Mentorships
Esteemed Credentials
Esteemed Credentials
Decisions About Your Service Modality Primary patient care Teaching Research Administration & leadership Public health initiatives Combinations of these
Especially Consider Teaching Opportunities!
Decisions About A Community To Serve How Should You Go About Selecting A Particular Community?
Decisions About A Community To Serve Potential selection criteria: Health needs of the people Opportunities to assist Language & culture Previous experience Political stability Your organization’s presence Passion for the people!
Location Pros & Cons 1=bad 3=good Ghana Ethiopia Angola Yemen China Language difficulty 2 3 2 1 1 New opportunity 1 3 3 1 1 Inner peace 1 1 3 1 2 School for kids 1 1 1 1 2 Political stability 3 1 2 2 2 Potential student work 1 3 2 1 3 Potential for impact 1 3 3 1 3 TOTAL 10 15 15 7 14
Decisions About Your Sending Organization What Sort Of Sending Organizations Can You Select From?
Decisions About Your Sending Organization Types of organizations in international health: NGO Faith-based NGO Educational Institution US Government National Government For-profit corporation
Decisions About Your Sending Organization What Should You Look For In A Sending Organization?
Decisions About Your Sending Organization Potential selection criteria: Reputation National connections Financial resources Philosophical agreement Personality compatibility Logistical support Passion for the national people!
Decisions About Language Learning An enormous commitment, guided by: Existing language skills Passion for a people group Available learning resources Nothing to do with high school language success
Recommend
More recommend
