Category Archives: Advocacy

Double Feature: A Spotlight on Global Health Education

Note from the Editor: The December blog contains two important submissions on global family medicine and the factors that contribute to inequities in the field including but not limited to funding, climate change, geopolitical events, and more. Thank you to Barry Bacon, MD, Martha Sommers, MD, Bhargavi Chkuri, MD, and Meredith Milligan, MD

Dream School: How One Patient Encounter Can Change the Direction of Your Life

One patient encounter can change the direction of your life.

Our team, Gambella Medical Team Connections in Western Ethiopia and Anchor Health for South Sudan in South Sudan, dreams of creating a medical school to change health outcomes for the region. This long-term strategy will build up the region’s workforce with physicians and other local-to-the-area healthcare workers familiar with the area’s needs.

The challenges we face include:

  • Lack of livable wages. Doctors in South Sudan are employed by the government and receive $12 per month.
  • Lack of funding and support. Donor countries who had been sponsoring healthcare support in South Sudan have retracted their financial support.
  • Lack of access to quality medical care. There are five hospitals in the Gambella region serving a million people. These hospitals have one functioning x-ray machine and one functioning operating room.
  • Lack of physicians. There are 120 physicians in South Sudan serving a population of 12 million, a ratio of 1:100,000. In 2013, there were nine midwives and eight OB/GYNs identified in all of South Sudan. As a result, one in seven women die from childbirth complications. We witnessed a child dying in his parents’ arms while waiting to be seen by a physician at the central hospital.
  • Lack of access to medicines, equipment, and tools required to provide quality care.
  • Lack of tools. Nursing schools in Gambella don’t even have a blood pressure cuff and must teach their students without one.
  • Outsourcing. Medical care is outsourced at a cost of $200 million per year to other countries.
  • Conflict. There are 400,000 refugees in the Gambella region. Facility transfers must transport patients during times of conflict.

Many members of our team fled South Sudan and Gambella due to the conflict and violence. After arriving in the United States, they received an education and they returned to the region, bringing colleagues and US recruits with them with the goal of transforming healthcare in South Sudan and the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Thanks to presentations at the 2019 and 2021 AAFP Global Health Summit, we were able to grow our team and support network. The connections built by our team, along with their local knowledge led to Marshall University’s Family Medicine Global Health Division joining the effort; and the sharing of widespread contacts that contribute to our progress.

We’ve been offered a hospital in Juba to create a multi-specialty healthcare center and a base for medical education. Our vision is to invite US-based instructors and specialty teams to provide care for patients while teaching medical students and South Sudanese physicians. Additionally, we must address the policy fiascos that prevent healthcare professionals from receiving sustainable, livable income. For over five years, we’ve worked on our dream of developing an international medical school with campuses, and teaching sites in remote hospital and clinical settings in South Sudan and Western Ethiopia. We have the support of both leaders in South Sudan, the Gamebella regional government, and are audacious enough to believe we will accomplish our dream.

Globally, the world is asking more of family medicine.  As teachers of family medicine, we are learning how to meet the needs in South Sudan and Gambella, and focusing on increasing opportunities to involve medical students, residents, and colleagues as we move forward.

Join us.

Barry Bacon, MD
250 S Main St
Colville, WA  99114
Anchor Health for South Sudan
Gambella Medical Team Connections
baconbarry@juno.com


Martha Sommers, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Marshall University

References

(1)https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/the-rising-importance-of-family-medicine

Margaret Chan. (June 26, 2013). The rising importance of family medicine. Paper presented at the 2013 World Congress of the World Organization of Family Doctors, Retrieved from https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/the-rising-importance-of-family-medicine

Modernizing Global Women’s Health Curricula: Inclusivity, Intersectionality, and Climate Change

by Bhargavi Chekuri, MD, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, and Meredith Milligan, MD, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH

Gender inequality remains one of the most important drivers of disparities in health and well-being worldwide. To address these disparities, global women’s health research and curricula have been developed to better meet the unique health needs of women worldwide. While training programs often provide much needed focus on reproductive and obstetric care, infectious diseases, and cancer screening, significant blind spots remain.

First, gender continues to be categorized as binary in most of the research focused on global women’s health. As a result, teaching in this field fails to incorporate intersectionality, overlooking the physical and mental health needs of other sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). Additionally, teachers of global women’s health, and indeed medical educators more broadly, do not adequately integrate planetary health into their curricula. This is problematic because climate change is already worsening current global health disparities with well-documented gender-specific impacts, making it one of the most important, cross-cutting determinants of health in the 21st century. Research and teaching at the nexus of all three of these issues (global women’s health, health needs of other SGMs, and climate change) is even rarer, despite the fact that SGMs are particularly vulnerable due to compounding issues such as discrimination.

Gender-specific Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change harms human health by altering the quality and quantity of our air, water, food and weather. Increased temperatures and drought, poor air quality, more intense extreme weather events, and changing disease patterns all affect mortality and morbidity, resulting in injury, poor cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes, and worsening mental health worldwide. Globally, women and other SGMs face increased exposure to the consequences of climate change due to existing health disparities as well as differences in gender roles and responsibilities. When faced with these exposures, unequal resource distribution further limits the adaptive capacity and resilience of women and other SGMs. Women in low-income countries (LIC), for example, have disproportionate exposure to food insecurity because they are more likely to live in poverty and rely on subsistence farming to feed themselves and their families. When faced with lower crop yields, women are at higher risk for nutritional deficiencies, both because of increased reproductive demands (like menstruation and pregnancy), and because of underlying cultural norms that may prioritize feeding others. Similarly, gender-based social and cultural norms place responsibility for managing household water supply on women in LICs. As climate change strains freshwater resources globally, women spend more time and travel farther to locate, transport, and secure household water. Along the way, they can have increased exposure to heat, musculoskeletal injury, and face the threat of violence or abuse. Climate-related disasters like wildfires, storms, and flooding also have gendered health impacts. Women in low and middle-income countries are more likely to die from extreme weather or flooding events than their male counterparts because they are also more likely to be homebound, serving as caregivers, and unable to immediately escape climate-related disasters. Simultaneously, women have unequal access to disaster response services in the aftermath of such events, often losing access to essential sexual health and reproductive health services (SHRH) right when they need them the most.

SGMs are particularly socially vulnerable during disasters due to existing inequities as well as discriminatory disaster response policies. In the U.S., for example, LGBTQ+ people are more likely to live in poverty, experience unstable housing, and have chronic physical and mental health conditions, all leading to a higher risk of direct and indirect injury during extreme weather events. Additionally, disaster response policies in the U.S. do not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, or routinely recognize gender-diverse family structures, opening LGBTQ+ people to harm and separation when pursuing relief.

A Path Forward

Unfortunately, these are just a few of the many ways women and SGMs around the world are disproportionately impacted by the changing climate. Practitioners and teachers of global women’s health must be aware that current gaps in global health research limit our ability to fully understand and address gender-based health disparities worldwide. Integrating an intersectional and inclusive lens while defining, understanding, and teaching global women’s health is an important first step in addressing health disparities felt by women and other SGMs. Global women’s health practitioners must also use and teach a planetary health lens so they are better prepared to address contemporary health threats. Those leading community-based collaboration and bidirectional global women’s health partnerships must understand and teach concepts like gender-mainstreaming and climate action when developing projects aimed at improving women’s health. Lastly, global women’s health practitioners must understand and teach the importance of applying reproductive justice and human rights frameworks to climate action plans; this not only improves the adaptive capacity and resilience of women and other SGMs but also subsequently improves gender-based health disparities.

Definitions:

Sex refers to the biological characteristics that define humans such as female or male.

Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics, norms, roles, and behaviors attributed to women, men, girls, boys, and non-binary people. Because gender is a social construct, ideas about gender vary across societies and time.

Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of all genders.

LGBTQ+ is an acronym that collectively refers to individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. The “Q” can also stand for questioning, referring to those who are still exploring their own sexuality and/or gender. The “+” represents those who are part of the community, but for whom LGBTQ does not accurately capture or reflect their identity.

Sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) refers more broadly to people whose biological sex, sexuality, gender identity and/or gender expression depart from majority norms. The term ‘sexual and gender minorities’ includes considerable diversity as well as a multiplicity of identities and behaviors, including, but not limited to, individuals who identify as LGBTQ+. The term ‘sexual and gender minorities’ is preferentially used in global health contexts because the term ‘LGBTQ+’ is derived from Western contexts which may not apply to many people in the world.

Intersectionality refers to a theoretical framework born out of the Black feminist movement which maintains that individual identities (such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, etc.) intersect to create experiences of inequality within society. Research using intersectionality methods is ideally built on a foundation of coalition-building with the aim of gaining a deep understanding of the diversity of lived experiences and the ways in which systems of oppression and privilege impact these varied experiences. Such research also maintains that emphasis on one identity over another fails to capture the true causes of disparity in the world.

Gender mainstreaming is defined by the UN as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or programs, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”

Bhargavi Chekuri, MD, is Co-Director, Diploma in Climate Medicine, and Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO

Meredith Milligan, MD, is Family Physician and Leadership Preventive Medicine Resident, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH

Physician Coaching, An Evidence-based Tool for Resident Wellness

  • Tonya L. Caylor, MD, FAAFP
  • tlcaylor@mac.com
  • Clinical Associate Faculty, On-call Faculty for Alaska Family Medicine Residency
  • Joy in Family Medicine Coaching Services®

Physician coaching, a key tool for preventing and addressing burnout, is being incorporated into residency and fellowship training programs. Professional coaching has been around for decades for leaders in fortune 500 companies. It turns out, that it translates well to medicine and impacts burnout. In August of 2019, JAMA published an article telling of the benefits of physician coaching: it decreases emotional exhaustion and burnout out while increasing resilience and quality of life.1  Other studies show similar results. 2,4

For those unfamiliar with professional coaching, it’s good to start with a definition of what it is and isn’t. First, coaches are not mentors; mentors are those looked up to and emulated. Coaches are not advisors; advisors guide, direct and give advice.  Coaches are not therapists. Therapists diagnose and treat those with DSMV mental health conditions. Coaching officially defined as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Foundational to coaching is that the client is seen as whole, capable, and resourceful. Most academic medicine coaches use a causal-coaching approach rooted in positive cognitive psychology.

After my own personal burnout period, I discovered coaching. I grew tremendously. I was so convinced that these principles and approaches were critical for everyone, including those I’m most dedicated to – resident physicians. I began my coaching journey in the Fall 2019, took courses, became certified, and started my business in 2020. I have had the privilege of coaching high-functioning residents that want to grow into their goals as well as some who are struggling in one area or another. The outcomes are the similar. They uncover limiting beliefs, learn tools to navigate life and career, decrease unnecessary suffering, improve their outlook, and move toward the future they envision. Physicians who are trained coaches have the unique advantage of understanding issues that augment relating to the client. It is worth pointing out, that residents need a safe space, so using non-evaluative physician coaches is crucial.  

I performed pre- and post-course surveys with the Maslach Burnout Index and a linear quality of life scale for quality improvement to residents and recent graduates who went through my 6 session 1:1 coaching plus program. Eighty percent of those participating met burnout criteria at the beginning of the course, compared to only 40% who completed the program after the conclusion. Even the remaining 40% had significant improvement in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment scores. 80% reported improved quality of life (none showed a decrease). All reported subjective positive feedback. Each 1:1 participant completed the course if they paid (with or without program support for time) and even if they didn’t pay (scholarship or program paid) but the program carved out time for them – one hour a week for 6 weeks. 

Coaching resident physicians is not only helpful for the individual, but the program as well. They have a different approach to their colleagues, staff, and attendings. An example – during a coaching session, a resident felt a particular attending was “against him.” We parsed out fact from thoughts. He was then open to giving the attending the benefit of the doubt. He had less rumination, less unnecessary suffering, and engaged with the attending in a healthier manner. Another program I had the honor of coaching, enrolled faculty and residents in a series of separate group sessions. They now share a common language and toolbox that improve the program’s culture. The program ran pre- and post- course surveys and are in the process of analyzing the data. 

Various methods to access coaching for residency and fellowship programs are being trialed, including one-on-one coaching, group coaching, and hybrid models, both with and without mini curricular topics, and some offer CME. Some institutions, such as Harvard4, explored basic coach training with their faculty to coach trainees outside their primary discipline. Others, such as Stanford, contract with an outside physician coach annually for their anesthesia fellows.  

Funding sources vary. In the Mass General study3, there were grants, and volunteer hours. In the Penn State study5 there was a designated FTE budget utilized. Various wellness funds, CME/book funds, HSA dollars, scholarships, and individual self-funding have all been used. New physician coaches often donate hours to get experience. (A list of coaches known to me with experience in academic coaching at various levels are listed in the table.)

I encourage all residency and fellowship programs to consider incorporating coaching into their wellness and remediation structure as the next step in supporting trainees and faculty, improving the culture of medicine, and preserving a healthy workforce that enjoy their chosen career.  

Table 1

Coaches/ProgramsLead CoachWebsiteEmailClient focus
Empowering Women PhysiciansSunny Smith, MD FAAFPempoweringwomenphysicians.comsunny@empoweringwomenphysicians.comClients: women physicians including all levels of academics
Joy in Family Medicine Coaching Services®*Tonya Caylor, MD FAAFPhttp://www.joyinfamilymedicine.comjoyinfamilymedicine@gmail.comClients: Family Medicine residents, faculty, and recent graduates
LadyDOxCorinna Muller, MD FACOOGhttp://www.ladydox.comdr_m@ladydox.comClients: women physicians including all levels of academics, not limited to DO’s
Pause and Presence CoachingJessie Mahoney, MDwww.jessiemahoneymd.comjessie@jessiemahoneymd.comClients: All including residents and fellows
The Institute for Physician WellnessKathy Stepien, MDhttp://www.instituteforphysicianwellness.comkathy@instituteforphysicianwellness.comClients: all physicians, including all level of academics
This Osteopathic Life Amelia Bueche, DOhttp://www.thisosteopathiclife.comthisosteopathiclife@gmail.comClients: all physicians, including all levels of academics, not limited to DO’s
*disclosure – the author has a financial relationship with the program that has an asterisk

References

  1. Dyrbye LN, Shanafelt TD, Gill PR, Satele DV, West CP. Effect of a Professional Coaching Intervention on the Well-being and Distress of Physicians: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial [published online ahead of print, 2019 Aug 5]. JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(10):1406-1414. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2425
  2. McGonagle AK, Schwab L, Yahanda N, et al. Coaching for primary care physician well-being: A randomized trial and follow-up analysis [published online ahead of print, 2020 Apr 16]. J Occup Health Psychol. 2020;10.1037/ocp0000180. doi:10.1037/ocp0000180
  3. Palamara, Kerri et al. “Promoting Success: A Professional Development Coaching Program for Interns in Medicine.” Journal of graduate medical education vol. 7,4 (2015): 630-7. doi:10.4300/JGME-D-14-00791.1
  4. Palamara K, Kauffman, C, et al. Professional Development Coaching for Residents: Results of a 3-Year Positive Psychology Coaching Intervention [published online ahead of print, 2018 Jul 23]. J Gen Intern Med. 2018;33(11):1842-1844. 
  5. Jed D. Gonzalo, Daniel R. Wolpaw, Karen L. Krok, Michael P. Pfeiffer & Jennifer S. McCall-Hosenfeld (2019) A Developmental Approach to Internal Medicine Residency Education: Lessons Learned from the Design and Implementation of a Novel Longitudinal Coaching Program, Medical Education Online, 24:1, DOI: 10.1080/10872981.2019.1591256

Physician, Scientist, Educator…Advocate?

Walden_pic

Jeffrey Walden, MD

As both physician and educator working primarily with underserved patients, I have seen time and again how the idealism in caring for patients can fall short of reality when working in our current health systems.

While it may be tempting when confronted with these shortfalls to take the easy path towards cynicism, our patients deserve better. As do our learners—it is never too early to model right behaviors when educating medical learners on various ways to tackle health disparities. And one of those ways is through patient-centered advocacy.

Remember the Stories

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend the 2018 Family Medicine Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC as a recipient of the STFM New Faculty Advocacy Scholarship. The Summit proved a great opportunity to learn more about advocacy in general, as well as the importance of putting patient stories first.

The conference ran for 2 days. The first consisted of a full day of learning about current issues in healthcare, including changes in advanced payment models, updates on health coverage in the media, strategies to engage with legislators, and the requisite discussion of opioids. As an AAFP-organized conference, Summit topics skewed heavily towards changes in the health care landscape in the United States today and how these changes affect the practicing family physician.

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