Even if the experience does not give enough expertise to diagnose and treat, he says it can help providers realize that they should be asking for more testing or consultation in appropriate settings.
Global health work needs to be collaborative and bilateral, not just an export of our Western medical model to a low-resource setting.
—Brett R. Hendel-Paterson, MD, assistant professor of medicine, University of Minnesota, hospitalist, HealthPartners’ Travel and Tropical Medicine Center in St. Paul, Minn., co-director, UM/CDC online global health course.
Expand Your Thinking
Global health hospitalists interviewed by The Hospitalist believe good medicine is not tied to any particular place. Many find that work in other countries enriches their own core competencies as physicians.
As partnerships between health systems in other countries and the U.S. continue to grow, leaders hope the exchange will bring improvements for all parties. Dr. Shamasunder points out that as the healthcare dollar becomes scarcer in the U.S., those who work abroad might have much to contribute to the systems they work.
For Dr. Shamasunder and his colleagues, global health is not just about making people’s lives better but is also about taking into consideration the social determinants of health. What becomes clear after doing this work, he says, is that resource-challenged environments are everywhere and that patients’ social histories are relevant no matter the locale.
“If you simply treat a patient who has anemia from lead exposure, and you have no mechanism to address the presence of that toxin in their substandard housing, that patient may end up with lead poisoning,” he says.
As Dr. Hendel-Paterson sums it up: “There is no such thing as healthcare over here and healthcare over there.” That’s why he and other global health hospitalists are convinced that “global is local.”
Gretchen Henkel is a freelance writer in southern California.