Hospitalists Valuable Assets in Fight against Global Health Inequality
Hospitalists should not only lead efforts to control potential Ebola outbreaks in the U.S. but should also play a role in improving global healthcare, say the authors of a recent article in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
Author Phuoc Le, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco where he co-directs the Global Health-Hospital Medicine Fellowship, is also cofounder of the HEAL Initiative, a global healthcare campaign designed to improve the health of vulnerable populations worldwide. HEAL, short for Health, Equity, Action, and Leadership, recently won the 2015 SHM Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Service.
Dr. Le recently spoke with TH about why hospitalists are well-equipped to handle global health problems.
Question: In your paper, you call on hospitalists to join the ranks of global health hospitalists. Can you explain?
Answer: Whether it’s Navajo Nation in Arizona or rural Haiti, the healthcare needs of the poor are very similar. Global health hospitalists play an important role in building capacity, running a health system, improving quality while reducing costs, working in teams to provide holistic care for the inpatient, and improving transitions to the outpatient setting.
Q: How do the skills learned in resource-poor settings apply back home?
A: Let’s say you have a patient with tuberculosis, which is very common in places like Liberia, and you suspect fluid in the lungs. [In Liberia], you would insert a needle and remove the fluid. In the U.S., a lot of providers would not be able to remove the fluid without getting an ultrasound and multiple other studies. Those costs add up. Global health hospitalists are very well-versed in the skills of ultrasonography because there are no ultrasonographers in the field working with us.
Q: You’ve spent time in Haiti and said that is where you began to notice volunteers arriving with good intentions but without needed skills. What exactly did you learn?
A: I spent a lot of time there, responding to the earthquake and also the cholera epidemic in 2010. I came across dozens of healthcare volunteers who had passion and commitment but really came ill-prepared, not through any fault of their own but because they never had an opportunity to learn the skills needed to be effective in the field. For example, take a nurse from an ivory-tower hospital and suddenly put her where she doesn’t have IVs to work with or the right type of fluids or tubing. Well, suddenly she feels like her efficacy has gone way down. That could easily lead to a lot of frustration and potential burnout. That’s why we started the HEAL Initiative, which is a two-year program for healthcare workers who want to learn the skills needed to work in poor settings.
Q: How can hospitalists get involved in global health?
A: Come to the Society of Hospital Medicine annual meeting in March where we’ll be hosting a special-interest session called Global Health and Human Rights.
Visit our website for more information about global health hospitalists.
