International Emergency Medicine

We treat a diverse population of patients in our busy emergency department. Over 120 languages are spoken by our patients and a major focus of our department is on understanding and improving emergency medical care for new Americans. We encourage our resident and attending physicians to engage in international emergency medicine exchanges to further our department’s understanding of diversity in emergency medicine. Many residents have taken advantage of overseas experiences with recent rotation sites that include: China, Dubai, Israel, Africa, Brazil and Mexico. The goals of our international program are:

• Learn about the medical, socioeconomic, cultural, political, psychobiological and epidemiological forces affecting patients and providers
• Develop clinical and technical skills to improve the practice of emergency medicine in the home country
• Study a core set of readings on issues shaping the international and cross-cultural practice of emergency medicine
• Analyze differences and similarities between the emergency medicine systems at home and abroad
• Improve understanding of basic language, cultural norms, and medical expectations of patients and providers
• Explore key health issues relevant to immigrant patient populations

In 2007, we established an exchange program with the Emergency Medicine Department at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, one of the premier teaching hospitals in China.