Faculty Collaboration Database

Strengthening emergency medicine in Poland: a training and partnership model. Acad Emerg Med 1998 Dec;5(12):1187-92

Date

12/24/1998

Pubmed ID

9864132

DOI

10.1111/j.1553-2712.1998.tb02694.x

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0031790646 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   5 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To report a qualitative evaluation of the Partnerships in Health Care/EMS Project between Poland and the United States. The goal of the partnership was to strengthen the emergency medical services (EMS) system in three Polish cities, Krakow, Bialystok, and Lodz.

METHODS: The Polish participants were interviewed in Poland approximately eight months after a U.S.-based training program. They were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership project and discuss their experiences incorporating U.S. emergency medicine (EM) knowledge and technology in the Polish EMS system.

RESULTS: The Polish physicians identified three major factors that had the greatest impact on the implementation of U.S. EM knowledge in Poland. These factors were the substantive differences between Polish and U.S. EM knowledge and technology, staffing differences in Polish and U.S. ambulances, and the differing role the EMS system plays in the delivery of primary care in the two countries.

CONCLUSIONS: The Polish physicians succeeded in training EM providers in the three cities, thus strengthening clinical skills of EMS providers. They also were able to adapt the principles of U.S. EM that they had learned to fit the specific circumstances that characterize Polish emergency care. As in the United States, the health care system in Poland is inseparable from the social, political, and economic realities of the nation.

Author List

Wolff M, Pirrallo RG, Hargarten SW

Author

Stephen W. Hargarten MD, MPH Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Emergency Medical Services
Emergency Medicine
Humans
International Cooperation
Poland
Program Development
United States