Cameroon welcomes Educational Ambassador for interventional nephrology course
Being an ISN Educational Ambassador is a rewarding experience for ISN members and local doctors in developing countries. Participants feel they are sharing what they know while contributing to change in nephrology. “It was great to watch residents carry out ultrasounds on their own patients at the end of the course,” says Charles O’Neill from Emory University, USA. Last November, he gave an interventional nephrology course to trainees and residents at the General Hospital Yaounde, Cameroon.
Gloria Ashuntantang welcomed O’Neill to the hospital in the country’s capital city and she only has positive results to share. “Thanks to the commitment of the trainer, we got in-depth and hands-on training in areas of nephrology where local competence is not available.” For nephrology trainees, the program offers a great opportunity to meet and exchange with experts at no cost and develop ties with them. The program greatly compliments nephrology training programs in developing countries. She adds that: “trainees in Cameroon can now carry out their own KUB scans and help reduce waiting time and improving patient care.” The strength of this program is that training takes place locally and in a familiar environment.
O’Neill says: “All trainees carried out at least five scans each and senior residents each performed a renal biopsy. In a low/medium income country with no social security system, most patients who could not otherwise afford these procedures can now benefit from them. We obtained renal biopsies from very interesting cases. It was a very rewarding for both the trainees and the patients.” The residents learned fast and the hospital was able to get a scanner, so they are now performing ultrasounds independently. One of the residents plans to become faculty and he would then be available to train future nephrologists.
The ISN GO Educational Ambassadors Program has grown steadily since it was first set up in 2010. Centers in the emerging world can request a teacher or an expert to join them onsite to provide very specific hands-on training or start developing community-based research and screening programs. Emerging centers may apply before May 1st, 2013 and Educational Ambassadors can apply all year round to join the program.
