International Anesthesia Outreach
The 2007 Horizon Report on technology in higher education notes that the effect of increasing globalization is the second of six most significant trends impacting education in the next 5 years. In support of our vision to keep abreast of evolving trends in health care and education, the program has pursued a program of international outreach to promote anesthesia education, cultural understanding, and clinical expertise across national boundaries.
Educational Consulting
Our nurse anesthesia program is well-known in the United States, and is now becoming known across the world. In 2005, we hosted two visitors from the Kigali Health Institute in Rwanda. Dr. Desire Ndushabandi, Rector of the Institute, and Mr. Charles Rangira, Director of Anaesthesia, spend a week with the program administrators to learn about nurse anesthesia education here. The ambassadors knew of the good reputation of our program, and they wanted to observe our educational approach and resources. The purpose of the visit was for the ambassadors to learn about our teaching methods, evaluation techniques, interview process, and our 1988 transition from a diploma to a Master’s degree program.
The Kigali Health Institute serves to train various types of health care workers in Rwanda, and directors are seeking to transition their anesthesia program to a Master’s level of preparation. While here, the visitors observed our program both at UNCG and at NCBH. The International Programs Office at UNCG discussed possibilities for faculty and student exchanges with the Institute. Since the visit, we have established an ongoing relationship between our programs, whereby we provide support to the KHI in terms of curriculum consultation, textbooks, and clinical teaching tools. The relationship has been beneficial to both sides, as we share our experiences with one another.
In January, 2007, Dr. Rieker visited the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the Komfo Anoyke Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana.
There, he learned about the struggles of this, the primary of only two anesthesia programs in the country, to teach and support nurse anesthetists with severely limited resources. He delivered lectures, and presented gifts of textbooks and airway devices to the program.
Clinical Experience
In support of our vision of Creating Excellence, the nurse anesthesia program formed a relationship with Solid Rock Missions to facilitate student and faculty involvement on international medical missions. Solid Rock provides charitable medical missions to the Dominican Republic.
Terri Wallace was our first student to participate in 2006, and she received an invaluable experience providing anesthesia for adults and pediatric patients in the Dominican Republic, using basic drugs and techniques. In 2007, our relationship with Solid Rock as well as smaller mission providers afforded international opportunities to students Shira Friend, Kimberly Gordon, Greg Aaron, and instructor Steve Alday. In 2008, Rebekah Cummings, Scott Imus, and Alicia Sechrist participated in trips to the Dominican Republic.
The opportunity to provide anesthesia in a third-world country using primitive monitoring techniques and medications is an experience that cannot be duplicated in the United States. These experiences provide students not only with the opportunity to learn unusual clinical techniques, but also to learn about alternate health systems and how to overcome system issues in those environments.
Besides the clinical experience, the opportunity also provides an uplifting sense of philanthropy for the providers and leads to formation of strong bonds with domestic and foreign teammates.
Here's what a mission coordinator said about one of the student participants:
"I would like to thank you for allowing Alicia go with us our mission trip this year. She was an excellent asset. Although our circumstances were quite different from what she was used to, it did not take her long to adapt. She gained the respect of the other members of the medical and surgical teams. One case in particular when the surgeon extubated the patient while doing a tonsillectomy, Alicia recognized it right away and took control of the situation. She made the surgeon stop operating and get out of her way so that she could secure the airway. Only then would she let him continue operating. She was very cool and calm in a critical situation that could have quickly turned into a tragic situation had she not recognized the problem.
I hope this experience was as beneficial for Alicia as it was for the rest of the mission team and the patients in the Dominican Republic, and I hope she will consider going with us again in the future. She has a very positive attitude and I feel that Alicia will make an excellent CRNA. Once again, thanks for allowing her to go with us on our mission trip."
Systems Redesign
In 2007, our nurse anesthesia program joined Kybele, the non-profit organization headed by faculty anesthesiologist Dr. Medge Owen. Kybele has established a agreement for a 5-year program with the Ghana Health Service to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Ghana. Dr. Rieker represented nurse anesthesia on a multi-disciplinary team of maternal-child experts in anesthesiology, neonatology, obstetric nursing, and midwifery to carry out a two-week mission in February. The mission served to evaluate systems design in 5 hospitals in the country and to plan and implement measures to improve maternal/child mortality and morbidity. The group provided formal and informal lectures, didactic and practical teaching in neonatal resuscitation and OB anesthesia techniques, and public health consultation to aid the health authorities there to better analyze and manage medical outcomes.
Student Support
Our reputation has extended as far as Taiwan, from which Ms. Jui-Ling Yang applied for admission last fall. Ms. Yang is a Master’s-prepared ICU nurse manager, and was accepted by our selection committee for matriculation into the class of 2008. When asked how she arrived at the decision to apply to WFUBMC, she replied that after researching top nurse anesthesia programs in the United States, she determined that ours would provide the best education. To support qualified applicants from abroad, we call upon our array of resources. Ms. Yang’s interview was carried out by video and teleconference, and our very capable International Programs department facilitated her visa and other entry requirements into the U.S.
