APPNA MERIT - APPNA - Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America

APPNA MERIT

APPNA MERIT (Medical Education and Research International Training and Transfer-of-Technology) is helping bring the latest medical expertise to Pakistan by mobilizing highly trained APPNA doctors to come teach and improve patient care in Pakistan’s medical universities and government teaching hospitals. Over the last three years, APPNA MERIT doctors have focused on developing new medical specialty areas in which Pakistan had no specialty training (for example Critical Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pediatric Oncology); upgrading expertise of Pakistani doctors-in-training and faculty in existing medical and surgical fields in Pakistan by sharing the latest advances with them; and helping start efforts to revamp MBBS medical education so it keeps pace with the latest international thinking for training new doctors.

APPNA MERIT has developed its collaboration programs in close consultation with Pakistani medical institutions that train the vast majority of Pakistan’s doctors and treat the very sick, injured and poor in Pakistan’s largest cities. Pakistan’s medical institutions told APPNA what they needed most from APPNA was expertise and better Pakistan-US medical linkages to improve medical teaching, training, and patient care to reflect global advances in medical knowledge and patient care. APPNA MERIT has responded by launching a number of programs for transfer of knowledge and expertise, including:

1. Short Duration APPNA Faculty Visits for Hands on Training & Teaching: APPNA physicians like Dr. Naheed Usmani (Pediatric Hematology/Oncology), Dr. Iqbal Ratnani (Critical Care), Dr. Shiraz Butt (Psychiatry), and others have spent 2-4 weeks at a time at Dow (Karachi), INMOL (Lahore), NORI (Islamabad), Services (Lahore), Shaukat Khanum (Lahore), etc., to teach hands-on techniques and use of medical equipment to doctors-in-training, see patients and hold clinics, give multiple lectures per week to large groups of students, house staff, faculty, nurses, and health professionals on the latest developments in specific medical/surgical topics, and suggest ways for improving doctor training, patient care and outcomes in those institutions. These APPNA doctors have found an enthusiastic Pakistani audience.

2. National Seminar Series: APPNA MERIT faculty has carried out 1-2 day seminar series in major Pakistani cities in new areas of medicine, such as Palliative& Hospice Care Medicine, held in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, and a new Critical Care Medicine Seminar series planned for 2010.

3. Teaching via Internet Videoconferencing: Neurology and Anesthesiology E-Conferences: APPNA MERIT Specialty Networks, like Neurology MERITnet and Anesthesiology MERITnet, have organized special conferences just for Pakistan, beamed by videoconference over the internet to multiple Pakistani medical universities at one time. Over 200 Neurologists and Neurologists-in-training at AKU, Dow, KEMC, RMC, UHS, LMC, enthusiastically attended APPNA’s Neurology video E-Conference beamed from San Francisco on July 4^th, 2009. APPNA Anesthesiology faculty beamed a half-day video E-conference to the annual meeting of Pakistan Association of Cardio-Thoracic Anesthesia on 18 October, 2009. Pakistani institutions have enthusiastically asked for regular E-Conferences.

4. MBBS Curriculum Reform: APPNA MERIT helped organize a full-day conference on Dec 24, 2008, at King Edward Medical University, on MBBS Curriculum Reform and how to revamp the training of new doctors in Pakistan to reflect the newest teaching methods internationally.

APPNA MERIT is working to expand its efforts, from creating online courseware for improving skills of Pakistani doctors in private practice, to helping Pakistani medical students gain valuable international experience through 1 month US Observorships. APPNA MERIT is also working on initiatives to improve disaster mitigation medical capacity in Pakistan and to help develop Centers of Teaching Excellence in various medical fields.

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