Goals - The faculty will strive to:

1. Familiarize students with the economic, social, and cultural factors that influence health care and disease in Ghana.
2. Provide an overview of the healthcare system in Ghana including the referral/teaching hospital, the primary health care center, and grass roots healthcare.
3. Provide an overview of the medical school education and residency training programs in Ghana.
4. Introduce to participants some cultures in Ghana with health implications as well as come common attractions of historical significance.
5. Engage participants in the practice of medicine in the context of a developing or low-income country setting and the disease-specific determinants of disability.

Objectives - At the end of the rotation the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the healthcare system in Ghana including the  medical school education and residency training programs.
2. Be able to identify the causation of common health problems in Ghana (e.g., malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB) vis-à-vis the Ghanaian culture and socioeconomic factors.
3. Demonstrate knowledge about the Ghanaian culture as it impacts healthcare.
4. Appreciate the treatment of a Ghanaian immigrant or other immigrant from Africa to the US in the context of their culture and socioeconomic characteristics.
5. Describe some cultures in Ghana with health implications as well as some common attractions of historical importance.

Learning Activities:

1. Three to four orientation with faculty and other personnel familiar with the healthcare system in Ghana.
2. Hospital rounds at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi to include H&P as well as opportunities to observe and participate in deliveries, post-mortems, and other procedures of interest to individual participants.
3. Clinic rounds at the St. Patrick Hospital (STPH) at Offinso, a district hospital managed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi.
4. Operating room experience at both KATH and STPH on procedures of interest to individual  participants.
5. Take a professionally guided tour of some common attractions with health implications and of historical importance in Ghana.

Learning Resources: (available in the Department and Richard D. Haines Medical Library)

1. Course materials prepared by faculty.
2. Faculty lectures on the adaptation of medical practice in Ghana.
3. Notebook prepared by faculty including current articles on Ghana, Ghanaian culture, common conditions such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB, and other culture-specific diseases.
4. Internet materials on Ghana including geography, history, culture.

Student Evaluation:

1. Student will be evaluated using the standard A&M evaluation forms on a pass/fail basis.
2. Students will develop a Power Point presentation detailing their experience  with reflection on the course objectives and a focus on how this will affect their view of medicine in the context of the human condition.  Show their international medical elective experience to faculty and students in open forum.
   

Course Evaluation:

1. The student will be given an opportunity to evaluate the elective, the attending physicians, and constructive criticism will be used to tailor the elective  for future students.

 

Elective Administrator: Samuel N. Forjuoh, MD, MPH, DrPH Department of Family and Community Medicine Scott & White Clinic/Santa Fe Center 1402 W. Avenue H Temple, Texas   76504 (254) 771-7695














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