PAST SEMINARS
At the request of health department officials in Kazakhstan, IME arranged high-level emergency care training for 3 groups of Kazakh health professionals in Huntsville, AL in October, November and December in 2021.
This “train-the-trainer” type of intensive hands-on teaching will allow these Kazakh nationals to help rectify a well-recognized national deficit in provision of high-quality emergency care and will include pediatric life support certification and trainer certification so they can teach others inside South Kazakhstan upon return.
A training took place in Astana between June 17th and 21st. The training took place in the hospital that is in charge of President's work. Hospital's administration asked IME to do training in improved clinical skills for nurses. The trainers were two professors of nursing department. These two trainers are from a nursing college in Huntsville, Alabama. They are Dr. Marlena Primeau and Dr. Darlene Showalter. They got introduced to the structure and nursing management of the hospital, and had many discussions with the nursing personnel. The training took place for 39 head nurses of the hospital and it was focused on individual patient monitoring. Also, the training was about how they can reorganize the structure of the department so the whole nursing department was patient oriented in hospitals. Towards the end of the week, two trainers wrote a detailed report on how to incorporate changes in departments. One of the critical notices that they pointed out is that nurses do a lot of work that are not related to their professional obligations. For example, patient transportation and filling out legal documents. Another thing they acknowledged is that the students in nursing schools learned all types of patient examination but at their work they don't use these techniques such as auscultation, percussion, and palpation.
June 13th, 2019, the head of Public Health of Shymkent invited Dr. Nurgul Saliyeva and Dr. Marlene Primeau in order to meet with 300 general and head nurses of Hospitals in Shymkent. It was an excellent discussion where we were able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of countryside medical services. During the conversation we discovered that not a single nurse is part of a local or nationwide countryside medical association. We explained the benefits of being associated with an association and explained what functions can be given to them. We explained how an association can be a powerful organization, this led them to wanting to open an association of medical nurses in southern Kazakhstan. They asked us to help them register this organization. Dr. Nurgul Saliyeva and Medical Association of the State of Alabama will help them create this association and make them a powerful organization.
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In the month of May, IME has done training for medical workers of Turkestan Oblast in BLS and ACLS. One thing that was interesting is that the audience was a mix of people. Those people were doctors of reanimation department, paramedics, and medical nurses from far villages. It was an interesting combination, they worked in a team and they confessed that it was their first life experience where they worked with medical professionals of different backgrounds. Ric's training was more focused on acquiring practical skills and because of that people said that it was one of the brightest training topics. The medical professionals were delighted throughout the week when they were working with Ric. The training took place in 3rd Hospital of city of Turkestan where a lot of students came to attend the training. More information about Ric can be found in Upcoming projects
Dr. Daryl Scott M.D., PhD, Associate Professor with tenure at Baylor Collage of Medicine, American Board of Medical Genetics & Genomics, Dr. Eric S. Schmitt M.S., PhD, Certified Genetic Councelor, and Dr. Katie M.S., CGC., Certified Genetic Councelor, all members of the BCM Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, volunteered their time to conduct a 5 day CME course in Medical Genetics at Nazerbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan. Dr. Sutton is current Chair of the American Board of Genetics and Genomics , and Director of the ABMG Diagnostic Laboratory Training Programs at BCM. He is also the Medical Director of the Baylor Genetics Biochemical Genetics Laboratory and Director of the Medical Genetics Residency Program at BCM. Dr. Schmitt is a genetic counselor in the Baylor Genetics Laboratories. Salma Nassef specializes in prenatal, cancer, and presymptomatic Huntington Disease genetic counseling.
The BCM staff were invited to teach at The Nazarbayev University from October 2nd to 6th by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health. The course was organized by the non-profit, International Medical Exchange, which organizes training opportunities for all medical disciplines. Dr. Schmitt’s wife, Dr. Nurgul Saliyeva, is a Kazakh physician and the Director of IME. Approximately 100 Kazakh physicians from a variety of disciplines took part in the course. Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world and is actively modernizing its medical care.
IME is very fortunate to have the expertise American Genetic Counselors and Medical Geneticist, and grateful to work with Kazakhstani Physicians to help advance patient care. IME hold a trainings called "Basics and Advanced Medical Genetics for Physicians" in Shymkent, South Kazakhstan, from 22 October till 26 October, 2018. IME invited professionals from Baylor College of Medicine and GeneDX:
Dr. Daryl Scott, MD, PhD,
Dr. Eric Schmitt, MS, PhD
and Dr. Kathryn Plankett, MS, CGC
Dr. Rakhat Arynov heads polyclinic # 4 in the city of Shymkent. Once he said: "You know, Nurgul, there are a lot of trainings offered in the educational market, but I'm looking for the training offered by the abbreviation" IME. "Why? Because my employees come back from your trainings excited, with a lot of new materials, they literally demand from me the obligatory inclusion of them for a new training from IME! "
In September 2017 Dr. Mary Carson R.N. Clinician III, University of Veirginia, Pain Management Clinic, B.S.N., with Dr. Joanne Bower R.N., B.S.N., held a training of nursing school in Kazakhstan. The training was directed to share with the knowledge and practice of basic life supports.
In October 2016 Dr. Darrin M. Hubert M.D., F.A.C.S., gave a workshop for colleagues in Kazahstan. In May 2017 he and his team of facial surgery from Virginia consulted and treated children from orphanages and poor population.
"I had the fortunate opportunity to visit Kazakhstan and work for IME during the month of August, 2016. I lived and worked among the people, and I can honestly say it was a magnificent experience! I'm a master's prepared NICU nurse and college faculty, so I used those combined skills to teach several groups of Kazak nurses about Western medical practice.
I felt very welcomed, appreciated, and always safe during my stay. Dr. Nurgul has a warm, dynamic personality and is a visionary. The entire staff of IME is professional and competent.
One of the things I treasure most is the connections I made with people there, and getting to learn about a vastly different culture. It was a very personally rewarding experience, and I hope to return in the not-so-distant future." - Christine Carr, RN, MSN
Atlanta, Georgia
"As an American who travels to Kazakhstan often, I am often asked about safety in the country as well as the people, food, and overall experiences. As to safety, I have never felt unsafe. People have actually been quite protective of us (my husband travels with me). They are solicitous of our needs and because we don't speak the language they do their best to communicate with us which often involves grabbing a friend or someone who speaks English to translate for us. As to training needs---Kazakhstan is on the cusp of improving their medical and nursing education and training system. International Medical Exchange has a "front row seat" in this in as they provide continuing education for nurses, ESL for physicians and nursing staff, and continue to work for the advancement of the medical system."
- Jeanne Bruner-Bodhold
FNP, RN, Ph.D in Higher Education
USA
