Context / probleemstelling of aanleiding

Thema:

Students from High-Income Countries completing activities such as International Medical Electives (IMEs) in Low and Middle-Income countries can perpetuate inequalities persistent in global health (1). For example, students may inappropriately impose ‘western ideals’ of medicine, lack necessary cultural competencies and/or overburden the local staff (2). As professionals working and educating in the field of global health and medicine, we have an important responsibility to build equitable partnerships for these kinds of educational opportunities. Here, equitable partnerships encompass not only equitable practices in the process of conducting IMEs but wider equity-related principles functioning on the institutional level. For example, bi-directional exchange between the partner institutes, reciprocity and capacity building (1). This roundtable discussion will help build knowledge around what equitable partnerships really entail and what kinds of activities can help contribute to their formulation.

Doel:

Discuss the challenges and brainstorm potential solutions for building equitable partnerships for international medical electives. This session will be conducted in English.

Doelgroep:

Healthcare professionals, researchers and professors/ lecturers.

Opzet: activiteiten en opbrengst:

Introduction (5 minutes)

Activity: Moderator will introduce the issue we face and the goals of the roundtable.

Result: Participants understand the roundtable format, in-house rules, purpose and goals.

What is an equitable partnership? (20 minutes)

Activity: A guided discussion will be held around what equitable partnerships really are and, on the other hand, what they are not.

Firstly, the participants will be asked what comes to mind when they hear the term ‘equity’. The moderator will guide the discussion to see where there may be discrepancies or common understandings in the definitions of equity. Follow-up and clarifying questions may be asked, and participants will also be asked to react to others’ definitions in terms of whether they agree or disagree (and why) with these definitions. Based on this discussion, the moderator will ask the participants what an equitable partnership may look like in the specific context of international medical electives. The moderator will guide the discussion until participants agree on some common principles that help define equitable partnerships. Definitions may cover concepts such as reciprocity, sustainability or capacity building, bi-directional partnerships and respec

Result: Participants come to a more common understanding of what an equitable partnership is and what features and values define this kind of partnership.

Challenges in building equitable partnerships (20 minutes)

Activity: A guided discussion on the challenges of reaching the kind of equitable partnership outlined in the first discussion.

The moderator will ask the participants what kinds of experiences they may have had in the partnerships with LMICs, working abroad in LMICs, or sending students abroad to LMICs to complete medical electives. The moderator will ask the participants what kinds of challenges they can see occurring when trying to achieve the values of an equitable partnership, these can either be based on previous experiences or on what they could predict (if they have not had these experiences). These challenges may cover factors such as; financial limitations, time and resources or priority-setting.

Result: Participants understand the complex challenges that can come when attempting to build equitable partnerships.

Overcoming challenges (20 minutes)

Activity: A guided discussion in which participants brainstorm potential solutions for the challenges previously outlined

With guidance from the moderator, participants will be asked to think through potential solutions to these challenges, both short-term and long-term. They will be asked to think about these solutions not only in terms of what they, personally, can do to contribute to equitable partnerships, but what may need to occur at an institutional and national level to create more enabling environments for these partnerships.

Result: Participants have an idea of how they can work to overcome identified challenges and build equitable partnerships

Wrap-up (10 minutes)Activity: A guided conclusion

Results: Participants identify the main takeaways and next steps

Referenties (max 2.):

Melby M, Loh L, Evert J, Prater C, Lin H, Khan O. Beyond Medical ‘Missions’ to Impact-Driven Short-Term Experiences in Global Health (STEGHs): Ethical Principles to Optimize Community Benefit and Learner Experience. Acad Med J Assoc Am Med Coll. 2015 Dec 2;91.

Kraeker C, Chandler C. “We Learn From Them, They Learn From Us”: Global Health Experiences and Host Perceptions of Visiting Health Care Professionals. Acad Med. 2013 Apr;88(4):483–7.

Max aantal deelnemers :

20