Our blogger Dr. Marc Jhonson is back with some thoughts on the social service year that all Haitian medical graduates are required to complete before beginning their residency. Dr. Marc is currently doing his social service year. — Tara Anderson, HME Project Communications Director

The “social service year” for Haitian medical graduates needs a new definition.

In Haiti, medical education usually includes 5 years of study at school, one year of internship in which the interns rotate through 11 services (surgery, orthopedics, OB/GYN, ophthalmology and ENT, dermatology, urology, pulmonology, internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency and ambulatory care) and one month of community medicine. This plan is mostly for the State University of Haiti (UEH), which is not too different from the private universities, with a few months of externship service for Quisqueya University and Lumière University, and an additional year before internship for Notre Dame University (UNDH). After the internship year, all doctors are required to complete a year of social service before obtaining their medical license. Then, new doctors can continue working as general practitioners or choose a specialty over 3 or 4 years. At first, the social service year was only a requirement for medical professionals (doctors, pharmacists, dental surgeons, etc.) coming from the State University but, over time, the Health Ministry (La Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population or MSPP) has also required graduates of private schools and those who graduated outside Haiti to do a social service year. (more…)

At the HME Project, we often share with you our work with medical students and residents, because we believe that growing the next generation of Haitian physicians is crucial to Haiti’s future. However, we also recognize the importance of other medical personnel, including nurses. We have recently begun the HME Nursing Project to extend our efforts toward improving nursing education and skills throughout the country.

The goal of the HME Nursing Project is to preserve and further the education of Haitian nurses, particularly nursing students, practicing nurses, auxiliary nurses and nursing aides, working in alliance with Haitian medical and nursing leadership, faculty, and students. We aim to restore and build upon the infrastructure and curriculum of Haitian medical and nursing schools and programs.  (more…)

Today we’re happy to introduce our new blogger, Dr. Marc Jhonson, who will be sharing his thoughts and experiences weekly. Dr. Marc is a native of Port-de-Paix, Haiti, a city in the northwest of the country. He graduated from medical school at the State University of Haiti in December 2012. All Haitian medical graduates are required to complete a “social residency” year after graduation, and Dr. Marc is currently working at the St.-Nicolas Hospital in St.-Marc, Haiti, until he begins his internal medicine residency in November 2013.

We are delighted to have Dr. Marc with us. This week, he talks about the need for disaster training for Haitian medical personnel.  – Tara Anderson, HME Project Communications Director

On January 12^th, 2010, we saw the weakness of Haitian health care system. The day after the earthquake, it was difficult for Haitian physicians to provide care to the victims because of a lack of skill in this kind of disaster and a lack of infrastructure. Physicians from all over came to help and saved many lives. We believe that without them, many more would have died. However, the ministry of health should have a long term plan in place to provide health care to the Haitian people and prepare the health system to respond to this kind of disaster. The ministry should coordinate the work of the NGOs in the areas where health care is needed even more after the earthquake. 

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Today we remember those who lost their lives, those who were injured, those who saw their brothers and sisters perish and their homes collapse in the earthquake of 2010. Haitians were the first responders following the earthquake and will be the last; we thank you for letting us join you, to be part of your communities and families. For as long as you will have us, HME Project will work as a partner to advance medical education, striving for a stronger and healthier Haiti.

Photo: Shahar Azran

In mid-November, Shamy Jean-Baptiste, U.S. Director of Operations for the HME Project, was in Haiti for a trip that had both professional and personal connections.

Shamy was born in Haiti and moved to the U.S. in 1994 with her parents and siblings, when she was 5 years old. She had never been back and had only few memories of her time there. In 2011, Shamy graduated from The University of Chicago and was recruited to work at the HME Project by Executive Director Dr. Galit Sacajiu, the mother of a childhood classmate. Shamy came on as an intern, and within the year she was promoted to her current title as U.S. Director of Operations. 

While in Haiti, Shamy visited the St. Therese Hospital in Hinche to meet with the Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante representatives as well as the Community Health Board to discuss medical education with the rest of the HME team, and helped deliver textbooks to Quisqueya University and the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. On the personal side of the trip, Shamy explored the countryside and was able to see her grandfather for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Shamy is grateful for her experience at HME since it has not only enabled her to give back to her country, but has also inspired her to go to medical school. She plans on staying with HME for another year, until she begins medical school, and one of her primary goals is to streamline the Wednesday Morning lecture series so that Haitian physicians have consistent access to North American-level CME. She looks forward to staying involved with HME even as she begins her medical education. 

Dr. Sacajiu snapped this photo on a recent trip to Haiti, and we just had to share it.

HME’s Coordinator in Haiti, Mr. Drake Delvoix, visited the U.S. from September 8th to 15th. During his
visit, Mr. Delvoix toured the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, hosted by HME’s
longtime partner Dr. Brian Remillard, and had a training session on the Vidyo software in Hackensack,
NJ.

Mr. Delvoix’s trip to Dartmouth was symbolic of the mutual learning between our Haitian and North
American partners, a condition that is imperative for our collaboration. While our North American
partners go to Haiti to impart their expertise, it is just as important for our Haitian partners to visit us in
the US and share their knowledge. During his visit to Dartmouth with Dr. Remillard, Mr. Delvoix toured
the medical facilities, where he learned about their fundamental goals, and also met with key hospital
personnel.

The remainder of Mr. Delvoix’s trip was spent in New Jersey mastering the use of Vidyo’s
videoconferencing software, generously donated to HME by the company, at their training facility in
Hackensack. As Mr. Delvoix put it, “the days were long, but it will help us out.” Indeed, the course will
help the partnering Haitian sites that participate in our video conferencing based initiatives, such as
the Wednesday morning lecture series, with Drake as HME’s Haitian Vidyo point person. During the
latter part of his trip, HME purchased an iPad with a grant from Dartmouth. Among other medical and
communications apps, Mr. Delvoix installed the Vidyo app on the iPad, which doctors in Hinche, Haiti,
will use for e-consultations with physicians in North America for many years to come.

For over a year now, HME has facilitated a weekly videoconference lecture series, allowing medical professionals in the United States, Canada and Europe to deliver live lectures to 5 sites in Haiti, including Cange, St. Therese, The General Hospital, and St. Marcs. Since the program’s inception, there have been 52 lectures.  Our aim is to help to fill some of the gaps in the Haitian system, where specialists may be unavailable, and to enable foreign experts to share their knowledge in a convenient way.

We are happy to announce that our lecture program is expanding to the Hinche Hospital in central Haiti, operated by Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante. The Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has commissioned HME to lead a teleconferencing initiative at the Hinche Hospital. HME will install a state-of-the-art computer lab, which will enable physicians to participate in our lecture series, as well as other Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities via videoconference. HME will also be on hand to address any problems with the system, offering on-the-ground support. We are delighted to be part of this project, and we hope this builds infrastructure for further educational opportunities to come.

HME has been invited to participate in the Medical Education Working Group at Zanmi Lasante/ Partners in Health’s new teaching hospital in Mirebalais. When the doors open in Autumn 2012, the 320-bed, 180,000-square foot facility  will greatly increase the standard of medical care in Haiti. The Medical Education Working Group has appointed HME director Dr. Galit Sacajiu head of the Continuing Medical Education (CME) subgroup, one of four subgroups dedicated to improving Haitian medical education.

CME refers to a wide variety of educational and professional development activities for practicing physicians after their formal medical school and residency training ends. With constant innovations and advances in all fields of medicine, practicing medical professionals must have access to top-quality CME programs in order to maintain professional standards of medical practice. Until now, Haiti has not had a standardized or comprehensive CME curriculum—a lack which the CME subgroup aims to address by working with Haitian physicians and policymakers.

Improving CME in Haiti is a critical step toward rebuilding and strengthening Haitian medical education and standards of clinical care, and HME is thrilled to be a part of this process.

On June 10, HME coordinated a meeting in Pétionville, Haiti between American medical students from the organization Medical Students 4 Haiti (MS4H) and Haitian medical students from UEH (the state medical school), Université de Notre Dame, Université de Quisqueya, and École Nationale D’infirmières de Port-au-Prince (ENIP). The students discussed their medical school experiences and their reasons for becoming involved in medicine. With HME’s help, these future physicians were able to come together and unite in their common goal to become healers for the world.