Liberian Ministry of Health, JJ Dossen Hospital, LR.
Partners in Health Liberia, JJ Dossen Hospital, LR.
Ann Glob Health. 2021 Oct 8;87(1):96. doi: 10.5334/aogh.3249. eCollection 2021.
Liberia has a severe shortage in the health workforce, which is amplified in rural areas. Many talented Liberians leave the country for post-graduate education; those physicians who do stay are concentrated in Monrovia.
We initiated a family medicine specialty training program (FMSTP) to increase the number of well-trained physicians who have the knowledge, skills, and commitment to meet the health needs of the Liberian people.
The Liberian College of Physicians and Surgeons (LCPS) family medicine program is a three-year post-graduate course that follows the West African College of Physician (WACP) curriculum. The program has a longitudinal rural training component supported by Partners in Health in Maryland county, where residents gain experience in a remote and under-served region. The program is evaluated through resident evaluations and ultimately bench-marked by accreditation and exam pass rates.
The FMSTP commenced in July 2017, and the first rural rotation was in January 2018. To-date 13 residents have completed a total of 43 rotations in Maryland. Residents surveyed highly rated the faculty and their rural rotations. They identify more hands-on involvement in patient care, exposure to community health, and one-on-one time with faculty as the greatest assets of the rural training experience. Accreditation from the WACP was granted in December 2018. One of the graduating residents from the first class in 2020 is now serving as the first Liberian family medicine specialist in Maryland County.
Investing in a strong rural training component in our FMSTP has not only strengthened the program but has also built the infrastructure to establish our rural site as an attractive teaching hospital for intern doctors and nursing students. As the program continues to grow, success will be measured by the proportion of Liberian medical students entering the family medicine training program, retention of family medicine physicians in rural areas, and ultimately progress towards universal health coverage (UHC).
利比里亚的卫生人力严重短缺，这在农村地区更为严重。许多有才华的利比里亚人离开该国接受研究生教育；那些留下来的医生都集中在蒙罗维亚。
我们启动了一个家庭医学专业培训计划（FMSTP），以增加受过良好培训的医生人数，这些医生具备满足利比里亚人民健康需求的知识、技能和承诺。
利比里亚医师和外科医生学院（LCPS）的家庭医学课程是一门为期三年的研究生课程，遵循西非医师学院（WACP）的课程。该计划有一个纵向的农村培训部分，由马里兰州的健康伙伴组织支持，居民在那里获得在偏远和服务不足地区的经验。该计划通过居民评估进行评估，并最终通过认证和考试通过率进行基准测试。
FMSTP 于 2017 年 7 月启动，第一次农村轮换于 2018 年 1 月进行。迄今为止，已有 13 名居民在马里兰州完成了总共 43 次轮换。接受调查的居民对教师及其农村轮换给予了高度评价。他们认为，参与患者护理的实际操作更多、接触社区卫生以及与教师一对一的时间是农村培训经验的最大优势。2018 年 12 月，WACP 授予认证。2020 年第一届毕业生中的一名居民现在是马里兰州的第一位利比里亚家庭医学专家。
在我们的 FMSTP 中投资强大的农村培训部分不仅加强了该计划，还为建立我们的农村基地成为吸引实习医生和护理学生的有吸引力的教学医院奠定了基础。随着计划的继续发展，成功将通过进入家庭医学培训计划的利比里亚医学生的比例、农村地区家庭医学医生的保留率以及最终实现全民健康覆盖（UHC）的进展来衡量。
