WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management

Background: Subspecialty expertise is often lacking in clinical environments in low-resource settings. As a result, medically complicated patients can receive suboptimal care, local clinicians can feel inadequately supported, and global health engagements can be difficult for medical trainees accust...

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Autores principales:	Marguerite Thorp, Kara-Lee Pool, Christopher Tymchuk, Faysal Saab
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ubiquity Press 2021
Materias:	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/23207dcc053342509a489ae8d0ae2de4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:23207dcc053342509a489ae8d0ae2de42021-12-02T13:34:13ZWhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management2214-999610.5334/aogh.3156https://doaj.org/article/23207dcc053342509a489ae8d0ae2de42021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/3156https://doaj.org/toc/2214-9996Background: Subspecialty expertise is often lacking in clinical environments in low-resource settings. As a result, medically complicated patients can receive suboptimal care, local clinicians can feel inadequately supported, and global health engagements can be difficult for medical trainees accustomed to more expert supervision at their home institutions. Objective: We created WhatsApp Messenger discussion groups to connect subspecialists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine with clinicians and rotating global health residents at Partners in Hope (PIH) Medical Center in Lilongwe, Malawi. Methods: Case submitters and subspecialist respondents were surveyed about their experience in the discussion groups. Findings: Over a three-year period, 95 cases were discussed in ten subspecialty groups, with dermatology and radiology/pulmonology receiving the most submissions. Participants were surveyed and reported excellent educational outcomes; large majorities of both case submitters (89%) and experts (71%) agreed or strongly agreed that the case discussions improved their medical education. The surveys also suggested positive impact on medical management decisions and patient outcomes. The major challenge to our intervention was low utilization of this resource by Malawian clinicians in comparison to medical residents. We hope to further address the barriers to participation and adapt the intervention to better support our Malawian colleagues. Conclusion: Because the discussion groups are free to create and require very little maintenance, this intervention can be easily replicated at other institutions looking to augment their global health educational engagements and support their clinical partners abroad.Marguerite ThorpKara-Lee PoolChristopher TymchukFaysal SaabUbiquity PressarticleInfectious and parasitic diseasesRC109-216Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENAnnals of Global Health, Vol 87, Iss 1 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Marguerite Thorp Kara-Lee Pool Christopher Tymchuk Faysal Saab WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management
description	Background: Subspecialty expertise is often lacking in clinical environments in low-resource settings. As a result, medically complicated patients can receive suboptimal care, local clinicians can feel inadequately supported, and global health engagements can be difficult for medical trainees accustomed to more expert supervision at their home institutions. Objective: We created WhatsApp Messenger discussion groups to connect subspecialists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine with clinicians and rotating global health residents at Partners in Hope (PIH) Medical Center in Lilongwe, Malawi. Methods: Case submitters and subspecialist respondents were surveyed about their experience in the discussion groups. Findings: Over a three-year period, 95 cases were discussed in ten subspecialty groups, with dermatology and radiology/pulmonology receiving the most submissions. Participants were surveyed and reported excellent educational outcomes; large majorities of both case submitters (89%) and experts (71%) agreed or strongly agreed that the case discussions improved their medical education. The surveys also suggested positive impact on medical management decisions and patient outcomes. The major challenge to our intervention was low utilization of this resource by Malawian clinicians in comparison to medical residents. We hope to further address the barriers to participation and adapt the intervention to better support our Malawian colleagues. Conclusion: Because the discussion groups are free to create and require very little maintenance, this intervention can be easily replicated at other institutions looking to augment their global health educational engagements and support their clinical partners abroad.
format	article
author	Marguerite Thorp Kara-Lee Pool Christopher Tymchuk Faysal Saab
author_facet	Marguerite Thorp Kara-Lee Pool Christopher Tymchuk Faysal Saab
author_sort	Marguerite Thorp
title	WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management
title_short	WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management
title_full	WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management
title_fullStr	WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management
title_full_unstemmed	WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management
title_sort	whatsapp linking lilongwe, malawi to los angeles: impacting medical education and clinical management
publisher	Ubiquity Press
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/23207dcc053342509a489ae8d0ae2de4
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WhatsApp Linking Lilongwe, Malawi to Los Angeles: Impacting Medical Education and Clinical Management

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