Collaborative Research - December 2015 Student Visit
- Catrin Morgan
- Dec 26, 2015
- 3 min read
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to be able to visit Aksum from the 7th -18th December 2015 as part of my SSC funded by the THET partnership. The aim of my visit was to carry out the first collaborative research of the partnership in medical education. Both Aksum and Barts feel research is an important aspect of the partnership and there is huge potential for research opportunities for both Aksum and Barts students and staff.
I conducted my research with Dr Meron a GP at Aksum who was hugely helpful. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the clinical experience of the medical students following the New Innovative Medical Curriculum and to identify any steps that could be taken to potentially improve the experience if possible. The NIMC is a new curriculum introduced by the Ethiopian government four years ago to try and overcome the shortage of doctors in Ethiopia. We focused our research on C1 and C2 students (which are 3rd and 4th years - medicine is a 4 year course). We interviewed the students and observed teaching in the clinical setting. Currently the 3rd years were doing Opthalmology and Dermatology and the 4th years were undertaking their final module titled Emergency Surgery and Lifesaving Skills which covered Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
The 3rd years were part of a new and exiciting campaign that had been initiated by the Medical School. The campagin had recruited a specialist in both Opthalmology and Dermatology to come to Aksum for a short period of time. The specialists were from other hospitals in other regions such as Mekele. The people of Aksum were notified about the campagin and told that if they had any skin or eye problems to visit the clinics that are running every weekday at the referral hospital.
The referral hospital is Aksum's new hospital that has been built for a couple of years, but unfortunately is still lacking equipment to be functional. So holding these clinics at the referral hospital was definately a step in the right direction to the eventual running of a fully functional referral hospital serving 4 million people. Huge numbers of patients responsed to these campaigns and they were a huge success by serving and helping the people of Aksum as well as giving the medical students first hand experience of these specialties. Meron and I interviewed the students and observed Dermatology and Opthalmology clinics.
The 4th year students (39 in total) had been distributed to different hospitals in the nearby area to accommodate them for their final placement. 13 students were at St Mary's hospital, a district hospital in the centre of Aksum and our research focused on these students. Meron and I spent time talking to the students on Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. I was privileged to spend time on both wards gaining first hand experience of conditions that I had never seen before such as Leishmaniasis, chronic osteomyelitis, chronic malnutrition, Hirchsprungs disease and complicated pregnancies to name a few. I also got the opportunity to go to theatre, attend morning meetings, ward rounds, student led-seminars and observe deliveries.
Overall the data collection for the research was successful as we gained valuable insight into the clinical experience of the medical students. Our plans for the research include further analysis of the data and to write it into a paper aiming to gain a publication for Aksum-Barts. I hope that this is the start of many more collaborative research opportunities for the partnership and we will keep you updated of any updates regarding our research.
Overall I had an amazing couple of weeks in Aksum with a huge thanks to Dr Israel and Dr Meron for taking such good care of me and making me feel so welcome. I found Ethiopia to be an incredible country with such a rich history and culture. Ultimately I think my visit was so enjoyable due to the kindess of the staff and students at Aksum University Medical School and I hope to come back and visit many more times.
