Introduction: International Healthcare Volunteers (IHCV) is a nonprofit organization that provides healthcare to women and their families in under-served areas of the world and technical continuing medical education to healthcare providers in

1
International Healthcare Volunteers
International Medical
Education A Global Perspective
Charletta Ayers, MD MPH. James
Aikins MD. 1Dept of,Obsterics,Gynecology
Reproductive Science,UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School Dept. of Obstetric, Gynecology
Reproductive Science ,Cooper Medical School of
Rowan University
.
2

Introduction International Healthcare
Volunteers (IHCV) is a nonprofit organization
that provides healthcare to women and their
families in under-served areas of the world and
technical continuing medical education to
healthcare providers in underserved area since
2001.
Harden reports a three dimensional model for
medical higher education. The model is based on
the student/learner ( local or international) ,
the teacher/faculty (local or international) and
the curriculum ( local, imported, or
international) .1 The future of medical
education is facilitating a global approach to
education emphasizing the mobility of students
and teachers as well as looking at a global
defined curriculum. International Healthcare
Volunteers has used 3 of the 4 constructs in
providing medical education curriculum within the
IHCV medical mission and has formulated a new
construct using global collaborative teaching .
The 2014 IHCV medical mission was compromised
of 29 volunteers. Nine of the mission
volunteers were US medical school faculty
International teachers. The International
faculty were from four medical schools - Robert
Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers, Cooper
medical school of Rowan University , University
of West Virginia and George Washington University
and 4 different specialties Emergency Medicine
Pediatrics, Obstetrics Gynecology, Urogynecolgy
and Gynecology Oncology. The 2014 IHCV medical
mission team included 6 international learners
a fourth year medical student, 2 surgical
residents, 2 medical residents, and 1 gyn
oncology fellow.
Collaborative Surgical Teaching by International
and Local Teachers to International and Local
Students Female fistulas are recognized as a
major health problem in the Ghanaian community
based on unattended deliveries, lack of access
to adequate maternal health care and limited
health care resources. IHCV is a part of a
unique medical education model of team teaching
by local and international faculty of complex
surgical procedures. IHCV and local
urogynecology surgeons has established a
collaborative program with the University of
Ghana School of Medicine. An urogynecology
fellowship curriculum in Ghana was established
through the collaboration of international and
local faculty. Local and international trainees
have gained unique clinical/surgical
experiences. The learners are mentored by
international and local experts with lectures
and direct surgical mentorships. During the 2014
IHCV mission, nine women with complex
vesicovaginal fistulas were provided with state
of art surgical procedures through this unique
program.  

International Teacher/ Local Student IHCV
provided 12 hours of grand rounds/lecture
series at the 4 sites in Ghana. Grand rounds
topics included Pregnancy Management of
Multiples, Urinary Stress Incontinence, and ABCs
of Acute Response Pediatric Emergency. In Cape
Coast a one week Pediatric Lecture Series was
provided for 15 nurses and 5 mid levels. Topics
included Hypoglycemia, Sepsis, IV hydration,
ABCs for Burn management and Infection
Control. The Mission was able to provide
Simulation Training Sessions for local health
care providers. The team provided courses for
Acute Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) for 88 local
hospital employee and Pediatric Acute Life
Support ( PALS) for 27 local nurses, house
officers, and medical students at Cape Coast
Regional Hospital by certified International
Trainers.   International Teacher/
International Student IHCV volunteers promotes
international mentors teaching international
students to provide a global perspective to
medical education. The IHCV team members are
charged to teach local Ghana students and
international students. The international
students includes members of the IHCV team who
are also learners and other international
learners rotating at the Ghana medical schools
from England and Germany. The aim of the IHCV
faculty is to provide state of the art clinical
and global health experiences. The IHCV team was
also able to participate in the Ghana Central
Regional Medical Society Grand Rounds on the
Ebola Virus Update presented by World Health
Organization (WHO) international lecturer from
Geneva, Switzerland. Local Teacher
/International Teacher IHCV collaborates with
2 Ghana medical schools - University of Cape
Coast of Medical Sciences and University of
Ghana School of Medicine. The learners
(medical residents, surgical residents ,
gynecological oncology fellow and medical
student) were able to be mentored by Ghanaian
Senior Faculty gynecologists, Surgeons and
medical officers. These clinical mentoring
experiences were found to be beneficial by the
international learners and promoted the global
cultural competency.  
.
.
.Conclusion During 2 weeks in 2014, IHCV
mission provided 29 hours of Continuing Medical
Education and over one hundred hours of surgical
direct training to local and international
learners. The entire IHCV team considers
themselves life long learners. Through IHCV an
additional construct for medical education was
demonstrated by the shared team teaching of
International(IHCV) and Local (Ghana) faculty
collaborating to provide a global medical
curriculum for international and local students.
Through this construct all parties gained
clinical/medical knowledge, mutual respect for
global medical education and enhanced culturally
competency. In the future IHCV is exploring
advance technology for medical education.

• Objectives
• To demonstrate a construct of
  international medical education.
• To present IHCVs global
  model of medical education
  by international and local
  faculty team teaching local and
  international students.

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of the Globalized World in the Twenty-first
Century. London Allen Lane 2005. 2 Bartell SM.
Trainings new role in learning organizations.
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SP. Global issues in higher education. eJournal
USA, February 2006. Available at
(http//usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0206/ijge/
heyneman.htm). Accessed April 6, 2006. 4 Schwarz
MR. Globalization and medicaleducation. Med
Teach. 200123533534.