International Emergency Medicine

Image Source: Pixabay

Author: Ryan Shanahan, MD
2010-2011 AAEM/RSA President
Originally Published: Common Sense Spring 2011

I recently returned from a trip to Haiti with a group of pediatric residents from Johns Hopkins. The person who runs the trip is a pediatric emergency medicine attending, and she invites the
emergency medicine residents along. It was, in short, an eye-opening trip. It also caused me
to reflect on the fledgling field of international emergency medicine and, in doing so, I want to
highlight some of the efforts of the Academy in this regard.

To say that Haiti has a health care system is to stretch the definition of those words. To say that they have an emergency medical system would simply be false.

Reanimare: View from a Romanian Resuscitation Bay

Author: Wit Davis, DO MS MPH
PGY2 Baystate Medical Center
Board Member of Equal Health

Your three-person resuscitation bay has four boarding intubated patients when the woman that you just stabilized becomes tachypneic to the 70’s with an O2 sat of 65% on non-rebreather. As you get her onto CPAP ventilation, the overhead alert announces that the helicopter has landed with a trauma arrest. That’s when you hear someone yelling from the adjacent CT scanner, “Ajuta! Ajuta-ma!”

At least that’s what you think they said. After all, the cries of a CT tech when a patient codes in their scanner is universally understood, and you’re in Romania.

International Patient Transports

Recent flight By Dr. Chali Mulenga to Surabaya, Indonesia.
“The kindness of the locals was a true highlight.
I am already keeping in touch with some of the people I met.
Such wonderful people.”

Author: Amy Ho, MD
University of Chicago
Originally Published: Modern Resident April/May 2016

International transports and repatriation is a part of flight medicine and emergency medicine that the University of Chicago Emergency Medicine residency has taken special focus on. Its residents have dedicated time for these experiences, working as flight doctors for international repatriation of patients who fall ill and require stabilization in a foreign country but then desire to seek the remainder of their care in their home country. Here we interview the Chief Residents of the program responsible for running these opportunities, Drs. Chali Mulenga (CM) and Kelvin Adjei-Twum (KA), on their insight into these programs.

What are some of the international medical organizations you work with?
KA: One of the organizations we work with is Fox Flight, based in Toronto, Canada. It is an air ambulance company focused on critically ill international patient transfers. Teams include ACLS trained physicians (such as ourselves), nurses, respiratory therapists (RT) and paramedics. Critically ill patients are transferred on Learjets that are configured into mini-ICUs. More stable patients have medical escorts through commercial flights. These escorts carry with them medications and equipment to assist with active patient needs and management.

A Young Emergency Physician Appreciates the History of US Emergency Medicine Through the Lens of China's Emergency Departments

Originally Published: Common Sense, November/December 2012 
Original Author: Leana Wen, MD MSc, AAEM/RSA President

I’m a senior EM resident — a young emergency physician, part of the “new breed” that’s always known emergency physicians to be residency trained, and EM as a well-respected field. Being part of AAEM, I’ve heard our leaders talk about the struggles they had in establishing our specialty, but I didn’t have a sense of what they actually went through. Why is it that they so dislike the term “emergency room” and cringe at references to “ER doctors?”

A Senior Resident's Perspective on International Emergency Medicine

Originally Published: Common Sense, July/August 2012
Original Author: Leana Wen, MD MSc, AAEM/RSA President

International emergency medicine (IEM) is one of the most popular subspecialties in our field. As a senior resident, I have seen many a trainee light up when I discuss IEM. But even though IEM is a great buzzword, it can mean different things to different people. Does it refer to a clinical rotation to see how EM is practiced in other parts of the world? How about developing emergency systems or providing humanitarian relief? Where does research or teaching fit in? In my first president’s column, I want to share my passion for IEM with you by providing some guidance and advice that I wish I had received when I was first drawn into IEM.