As we celebrated the 10th anniversary of UNMC’s collaborations with China earlier this month, there was plenty of handshaking and back slapping going on.
But, as I listened to the dozen or so speakers at the anniversary event, one thing jumped out to me: This thing is really working.
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TIME OUT |
WITH T.O. by Tom O’Connor |
He is part of the UNMC family medicine team that has been working hard to educate the Chinese on how to use the family medicine model.
“In 2008, when the family medicine team first went to China, the Chinese had no concept of what we were talking about,” Dr. Harrison said. “Today, six years later, they totally get it.
“They have gone from just trying to define what family medicine is to now really getting down into the weeds. They are implementing concepts and doing the things that family medicine physicians do to keep patients healthy.”
This month, eight physicians from Shanghai were in Omaha along with two medical students from Tongji University Medical School.
It’s been a process, Dr. Harrison said, requiring the Chinese physicians to retrain themselves.
“These are physicians trained in other specialties such as neurology, cardiology and gynecology,” Dr. Harrison said. “They needed training in the more practical skills required in family medicine.
“They needed to improve their interviewing skills, so they can get to know patients better and get them to change unhealthy behaviors like smoking and not taking their medications.”
With more than 1.35 billion people, China has four times as many people as the United States and is the world’s most populous country.
So how can just a few doctors trained in family medicine make a difference in an enormous country like China?
“It could take several generations,” Dr. Harrison said. “The hope is that the physicians we train in family medicine will go back and train other physicians. It’s the pyramid model — you start small at the top and keep getting bigger.”
Baby steps. But you have to start somewhere.
Don Leuenberger, vice chancellor for business and finance, summarized UNMC’s presence in China well when he said: “Our reputation is golden in China. We do what we say we will do. We don’t overpromise.”
Here’s to the next 10 years.