Partnering With the World to Save Lives
At BWH, physicians and nurses are serving on the front lines of preparedness — for terrorist events and other calamities that can befall populations worldwide — through an effort coordinated by the Institute for International Emergency Medicine and Health (IEMH) in the Department of Emergency Medicine. The IEMH’s overarching goal is to make sustainable improvements in emergency medicine by promoting collaborations among medical, civic and government leaders worldwide.
“Patients everywhere are benefiting from the IEMH’s paradigm of partnership, which stresses local leadership and system development,” said William Briggs, RN, MSN,CEN, assistant nurse manager in Emergency Medicine for BWH. He and Karen Doster, RN-C, MS, MPH, a nurse practitioner in the department, recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, where they met with nursing leaders there. This ongoing joint education program is among the international leadership forums of the IEMH, which was established by Emergency Medicine physicians at BWH and also involves faculty at Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health.
“The IEMH offers a unique opportunity for physician-nurse collaboration,” said founding director Mark Davis, MD, MS, an attending physician in Emergency Medicine. “In our work, which spans the globe, nurses are often a central component in providing leadership such as in this program in the Middle East.”
The IEMH forums look for ways to improve emergency response systems to prepare for individual crises or large-scale disasters and how to make the best use of resources at hand. “These forums — often held in areas of political unrest — also work to promote peace,” said Briggs. For example, his work in the Middle East is part of the IEMH’s Peace Through Health program, funded by the U.S. Department of State. Its mission is to improve emergency systems and health conditions for parties to the regional conflict while enhancing understanding and collaboration.
BWH nurses also play a key role in the IEMH’s exchange programs. “We frequently provide tours for visiting health care professionals who come to BWH to learn how we practice emergency care,” said Judy Perron, RN, MSN, nurse manager in Emergency Medicine. “We tailor our presentation to meet the needs of the group — demonstrating sophisticated techniques to physicians and nurses from medically advanced countries, and for those with limited resources we explore ways to use whatever is available to benefit their patients.”
The IEMH, which sponsors a fellowship program to train physicians in international emergency care and research programs to assess needs and measure outcomes of interventions, recently has shaped a new consortium — the Emergency Medicine International Response to Terrorism. When fully funded, it will make BWH one of the nation’s principal centers for studying and teaching responses to terrorism.
“The IEMH’s approach is multidimensional and highly integrated,” said Perron. “Both here and abroad, good systems and broad collaboration save lives.”