Global Health in Residency

The Fundamentals of Global Health Graduate Medical Education course occurs annually each fall, offering two weeks of intense global health training for residents and fellows with global health interests across the UW SMPH departments of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynecology, and Family Medicine. Emergency Medicine residents primarily engage in discussions and simulation training during only one week of the course.

This rare convening of residents, fellows, and faculty across disciplines allows attendees to engage in meaningful discussions related to global health topics; participate in global health simulations that portray clinical, cultural, and ethical scenarios encountered internationally; learn procedural-based skills tailored to resource-limited environments; and identify opportunities for global engagement and collaboration.

This multidisciplinary course provides trainees with a comprehensive overview of key local and international issues in global health through small and large group case discussions, simulation training, educational modules, and lectures by UW-Madison global health faculty, as well as distinguished guest speakers.

2022 keynote presentations included:

• Global Health Development and Emergency Medicine: Integrating a Tech-Enabled & Capacity-Building Approach, William Cherniak, MD, MPH, co-founder and CEO, Bridge to Health USA (Department of Emergency Medicine Grand Rounds)
• Community-based Approaches for Building Capacity in Global Primary Care, Tana Chongsuwat, MD, and Sean Duffy, MD, University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
• Lessons from COVID-19: Preventing the Next Pandemic, Krutika Kuppalli, MD, FIDSA, Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization
• Progress Toward Newborn Health, Maneesh Batra, MD, MPH, University of Washington Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Schmidt leads the interdisciplinary Pre-departure Short Course, which prepares postgraduate trainees from all medicine disciplines at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health for their GME-sponsored global health electives. Typically three course sessions are held each academic year.

Topics covered include considerations for participating in a short-term global health elective, packing lists, ethics and best practices for training experiences abroad, culture and professionalism, conducting clinical care based on the availability of resources, and guidelines for blood-borne pathogen exposure.

Below is a sampling of academic work that Dr. Jessica Schmidt has directly worked on for the benefit of trainees in international emergency medicine.

Global Point of Care Ultrasound: A Technical Guide: Dr. Schmidt helped to develop and implement a web-based toolkit to provide education and resources to learners utilizing point-of-care ultrasound in low-resource settings.

SUGAR (Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations): is a suite of free educational products used to prepare medical providers to work in resource-limited settings. It was co-created by Dr. Sabrina Butteris of the UW Department of Pediatrics and Dr. Mike Pitt from the University of Minnesota and piloted by the Midwest Consortium of Global Child Health Educators. Facilitators have been trained at over 100 institutions across the world. SUGARPREP consists of the SUGAR Trio, a comprehensive set of curricular resources for use by global health educators. The Trio is comprised of:

• SUGAR (Simulation Use for Global Away Rotations) Sim Cases: a simulation-based curriculum that focuses on common challenges, both practical and emotional, faced when working in resource-limited settings.
• PEARLS (Procedural Education for Adaptation to Resource-Limited Settings): a series of downloadable or streaming videos which demonstrate how to modify medical procedures using supplies commonly found in resource-limited settings.
• S-PACK (SUGAR’s Pre-Departure Activities Curricular Kit): a comprehensive pre-departure global health curriculum that is modular and modifiable.

Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship Consortium: GEM Fellowships provide an opportunity for residency-trained emergency physicians to obtain advanced training in GEM, to build skills and develop a career niche in the EM sub-specialty.