Globalization of Medical Student Training

We recently concluded the annual Global Health Course for Hopkins first year medical students.  This is our third year teaching this course and it is always a challenge, due to the diversity of experience and interest among the students.  About 40% of our medical students have some sort of international global health experience prior to coming to Hopkins.  These students are usually looking to build on what they already know and to engage in more in-depth discussions.  The remaining 60% of the students need a broad introduction to global health issues.  It is hard to please them all.  But, the students were engaged and enthusiastic about the course.

Our clinical case discussions, via live video conference with students and faculty from other medical schools, are the highlight of the course.  We use these cases to raise and discuss a broad range of global health issues, as well as to compare and contrast the epidemiology, clinical presentation and management of the same disease, in two very different communities.  We began the course with maternal health issues.   We discussed two sad and challenging cases of pregnant women from Baltimore and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who were both victims of gender-based violence.  Another morning, we discussed childhood illnesses and were very fortunate to have Dr. Craig Sable from National Children’s Hospital in DC, provide an overview of how congenital heart disease, specifically “Blue Baby Syndrome”, is managed in Uganda and the US.  A number of important issues were raised about the ethical, clinical and health systems challenges for congenital heart disease in Africa and the US.  We also had a great discussion of chronic diseases in the US and Asia, specifically diabetes, between our colleagues at Hopkins and the faculty and students of Perdana University in Malaysia. 

The ability to leverage new IT infrastructure in Africa, Asia and Latin America has provided a unique opportunity to globalize medical student training.  The ability to learn clinical medicine together with colleagues in other countries is mutually beneficial and hopefully will stimulate greater collaboration and interaction.   If you are interested in viewing the recordings of our medical student case conferences, the links are provided below.

Malaysia (Diabetes) - http://webcast.jhu.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=0202c9e26a514162a0f30662f31e766c1d

Ethiopia (Gender-based Violence)- http://webcast.jhu.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=b2e9cd5da0c94f10b2850dcb171c07681d

Uganda (Congenital Heart Disease) - http://webcast.jhu.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=e6d95dd66473486a8fc4519affebd9cb1d