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Module 9: The Importance of Doctors Working Together

The Importance of Collaboration

It is important to provide physicians in developing countries with professional development opportunities.  The focus of visiting physicians should be to provide skills transfer and professional development while simultaneously providing care to local populations.  Doctors working together can be one important facet of continuing medical education.  Continuing Medical Education (CME) is required of medical professionals in the United States to maintain their licenses. Every few years, physicians complete a mandatory number of credits through CME approved courses, which are regulated by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. CME is important because it helps prevent the deterioration of the quality of care by helping physicians to maintain their position on the cutting edge of knowledge and practices in the field.(1)  CME is not available in many developing countries, and educational opportunities with visiting physicians are therefore important and beneficial. By working together, doctors learn complementary skills from each other and improve their individual and group-work skills.(2)  Collaboration between doctors is also very important because quality of care and fiscal savings have both been shown to improve when health professionals work well together.(3)

Furthermore, innovation increases as contact with other professionals increases.  “Eye surgery is not static and keeps improving.  To improve our own surgery, we need to observe other surgeons and, occasionally, copy their techniques,” explains Dr. Walia, ophthamologist and medical director of the Kikuyu eye unit in Kikuyu Kenya.(4)  The technology and techniques available to surgeons are continually improving, and it takes collaboration with other surgeons to perfect techniques that can lead to better surgery outcomes for patients.

The Limitations of Visiting Surgeons

Unfamiliar surgical techniques can be stumbling blocks for visiting surgeons.  In “Short-Term Visits by Eye Care Professionals: Ensuring Greater Benefit to the Host Community," Andy Pyot states that many training visits abroad are unsuccessful because the visiting surgeons are unfamiliar with the surgical techniques being used.  For example, there is a relative lack of emphasis on suturing techniques in Western medical training.  While this can be rectified through collaboration with other practitioners abroad, these visits must be carefully thought out such that junior doctors are not using disadvantaged populations to experiment with new, unfamiliar techniques.(5) It is important that visiting surgeons do not attempt procedures or surgeries that cannot responsibly be performed with the available technology and within the existing healthcare system.

Dr. Aron Rose, Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Yale University, explains the challenges experienced by visiting ophthalmologists at http://www.uniteforsight.org/international-volunteering/module5#rose

Go To Module 10: Eye Disease and Mental Health >>

Footnotes

Community Eye Health Online Course

• Table of Contents
• Module 1
• Module 2
• Module 3
• Module 4
• Module 5
• Module 6
• Module 7
• Module 8
• Module 9
• Module 10
• Module 11
• Guidelines For Evaluating Eye Care Work