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BishkekTampaReno

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan / Tampa, Florida and Reno, Nevada

1999-2003


Focus:  Information Technology, Medical Education, Primary Care, Curriculum Development, Health Care & Hospital Administration, Leadership Development, Nursing Education and Practice, Nursing Reform



The Partners

US Partner: The University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSM) was the initial US partner,  leading a consortium of partner institutions with expertise in primary health care delivery and health professions education. This consortium includes: Nevada Rural Hospital Project, Washoe Medical Center, University Medical Center, Clark County Health Department, and State of Nevada Health Division. In October 2001 the University of South Florida Health Sciences Center in Tampa, Florida, became the lead US partner, assuming responsibility for overall coordination of the partnership.

NIS Partner: The Kyrgyz State Medical Academy (KSMA) is the only medical school in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. It currently has five schools for the following: medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and health management/public health. KSMA faculty carry out extensive medical and scientific research. A new teaching clinic affiliated with the KSMA opened in early 2000.


Partnership Objectives

The partnership's overall goal is to enhance the quality of education in family medicine, nursing and health care administration by creating model curricula and faculty development programs that support the goals of the Kyrgyz Republic's Manas health care reform program.

  • Increase the curriculum offerings, faculty knowledge and teaching skills in content areas related to family medicine and nursing at KSMA.
  • Integrate KSMA’s experience in healthcare administration with Ministry of Health and World Bank planning in healthcare administration and public health.
  • Improve the capacity of KSMA’s family medicine clinic to serve as a model center and an effective clinical teaching site for medical and nursing students.
  • Increase the capacity of KSMA as a strong and viable institution that assumes a leadership role in the healthcare reform efforts of the Kyrgyz Republic.
  • Increase the capacity of KSMA to conduct community and institutional needs assessments through the development of a Community Assessment Team (CAT).
  • Increase the capacity of KSMA faculty to conduct research viewed as credible when judged by international peer review standards.



Achievements

  Faculty and Curriculum Development

  • Partners have made significant progress in faculty and curriculum development.  They have encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration to improve educational programs related to primary care, health care administration and the nursing process. KSMA faculty learned new teaching methodologies and created innovative teaching modules. KSMA established departments for health management and higher nursing education and opened a new teaching clinic in the spring of 2000.
  • US and KSMA partners met with the Ministry of Health representative responsible for developing a public health curriculum in cooperation with the World Bank. Consideration is being given to development of a prototype curriculum based on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) model which incorporates core competencies and delineation of essential public health services as the basis for curriculum design.
  • US partners conducted workshops on essential public health functions and core competencies, leadership and strategic planning, and grant writing and resource development.
  • KSMA continues to support development of English skills among its faculty, providing online English classes and awarding scholarships to promote learning.
  • Partners developed a concept paper about the importance of research to medical and scientific education and proposed the creation of a regional research journal.

  Family Medicine Residency Training

  • The partnership is engaged with the Ministry of Health and the Postgraduate Institute in the development of a national family medicine residency training program for the country.
  • Partners, with support provided by AIHA under its subcontract with ZdravPlus (a Central Asia program of Abt Associates), are promoting development of family medicine residency programs throughout Central Asia, utilizing the Kyrgyz medical residency program as a model.
  • KSMA family medicine faculty visited US partners associated the University of South Florida’s family medicine department and the Morton-Plant-Meese Hospital in Clearwater to learn about primary care and approaches for developing clinical skills.  Topics covered during the visit were the use of standardized patients in the educational process, development of family medicine interest groups among students, residency curriculum development and review, the use of clinical settings in the educational process, Internet medical resources (such as PubMed), and assessing clinical competencies through Objective Structured Clinical Examination.

  Community Assessment

  • A multi-disciplinary “Community Assessment Team” (CAT) was established and its members were trained in strategic planning and the skills, tools and methodologies for community assessment.  A grants competition program was established to fund KSMA faculty proposals for projects in primary health and community assessment.
  • US partners worked with CAT members to develop their presentation skills and refine two assessment reports--one on family group practices (FGPs) and the other on the preliminary evaluation of the new family medicine residency curriculum. The assessment of FGPs found general dissatisfaction among respondents and identified needs related to improving physician training and providing more patient education programs. Methods used in the assessment process included focus groups, questionnaires, and data compiled by students. The patient satisfaction survey utilized for the FGP assessment was used to develop patient-oriented education and service programs.
  • Partners have developed and discussed application of a skills "toolbox" related to community education techniques, evaluation approaches, grants management, assessment of clinics, workforce planning and strategic planning.

  Leadership Development

  • Bishkek partners initiated a student recruitment program, developed promotional materials for KSMA (such as leaflets and flyers), and prepared other information relevant to KSMA’s programs and partnership activities.


Participating Institutions





Updated on May 23, 2003