Observerships

Based on my conversations with multiple surgeons as well as with ministry officials, there appears to be a great opportunity to enhance the training of Ethiopian orthopedic surgeons and residents by inviting them for US observerships. Foreign trainined physicians are not allowed to practice in the US without passing all three USMLE exams and obtaining medical licensure, thus formal fellowship training in the US is almost impossible to offer. However, for an Ethiopian attending surgeon or senior resident, spending one or more months in a US hospital would greatly boost their knowledge.

With regards to orthopedics, the surgeons I spoke with named sports, pediatrics, oncology, arthroplasty and spine as priorities. Pediatrics, for example, is a significant deficit as the main exposure for Addis Ababa residents has been the pediatric Cure hospital in town. This hospital takes care of childhood deformities at no charge, somewhat analogous to Shriner hospitals in the US. However, they can only host a portion of the residents in Addis.For example, the Black Lion program by itself has 25 residents a year. Thus many residents simply miss exposure to pediatrics.

Beyond orthopedics, there is an opportunity to make a significant impact in anesthesia, especially with regional blocks. Other deficits include musculoskeletal pathology and musculoskeletal radiology. At Tikur Anbessa I attended an ortho-radiology conference where two tumor cases were presented. There is a musculoskeletal radiology fellowship and the first almost-graduated fellow presented. His interpretation of radiographs and MRI, as well as his differential diagnosis were very good to excellent. However, he is the only one MSK (musculoskeletal) radiologist currently in the country. Other potential opportunists include hospital administration, quality control and surgical nursing.

In conjunction with these two residency training programs and with the enthusiastic endorsement of ministry officials, we have tentatively agreed to initiate a standing obervership program for Ethiopian orthopedic surgeons and residents at my institution, Inova Fairfax Hospital. I will share details in future posts. I invite any other diaspora to join in supporting these hard working and ambitious Ethiopian physicians.

posted by Felasfa Wodajo

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