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Development
and Implementation of a Volunteer Health Care Registry Jorge L. Gamba, M.D., Neel Karnani, M.D., Bill Allen |
There is a worldwide shortage of capable trained health care volunteers particularly in developing countries. Despite this, relatively few physicians have had any experience in meaningful international humanitarian missions. There are many reasons why doctors donate their time to combat disease and sickness abroad. Among these can be included, wanting to help the less fortunate, disenchantment with existing medical practice, a chance to put philosophical/moral convictions into action, an opportunity to teach, religious principles, etc. Despite these compelling factors, the minority of physicians (<3% by some estimates) volunteer their time. A significant factor in this equation is that there are currently limited resources available for physicians to prospectively evaluate available organizations which best fit their "volunteer objectives". An all volunteer physician task force was developed by the Duval County Medical Society in 2000 to address these pertinent issues and to see if it was possible to develop and implement a regional not for profit organization to promote, encourage and facilitate international health care volunteerism. The initial task forced determined that this would be a worthwhile project and in 2001 the DCMS International Health Volunteer Organization was created. The International Health Volunteers Organization (IHVO) is an independent, not for profit humanitarian medical service organization whose primary goal is to encourage, engage, and assist medical personnel who wish to volunteer their skills with international health care projects. IHVO is a developmental outreach program of the Academy of Medicine which was created by the Duval County Medical Society as a not for profit 501-c-3 corporation in 1959. The Academy has operated since its conception exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. Over the years, the Academy has assisted in the establishment of the Jacksonville Health Education Program (JHEP), implemented countywide inoculation programs of the polio and the rubella vaccine and encouraged and supported local medical research. In addition, through medical community donations, medicines have been sent to aid third world countries, and the very successful WE CARE program was established providing over six million dollars worth of free medical care and services to the homeless, working poor, underinsured and uninsured local children and adults. Additional community health relief projects developed by the Academy are Hubbard House (Domestic Violence Shelter for Women), Healthy Start for Children, Mercy Ships, as well as urgent medical care for hurricane and disaster relief. IHVO is the international outreach program of the Academy whose primary purpose is to establish an Internet based accessible repository of physicians and other medical experts who would like to volunteer in domestic and international short-term medical service projects. By establishing an easy to use on-line database of interested medical personnel and reputable organizations, IHVO aims to facilitate the placement of medical experts with the most appropriate medical outreach programs that matches their skills and interests. The organizational intent is to promote, encourage, facilitate and support physician volunteers and their families in an effort to assist them in collaboration with medical missions that optimize the use of their talents. This will be implemented by providing a user friendly, comprehensive and centralized web site with directories of physician availability and useful information regarding different medical relief organizations and their projects worldwide. By providing an easy to use directory facilitating the linking of doctors with compatible organizations, the organization hopes to increase the number of physicians interested in volunteerism. IHVO is committed to the concept of "think locally, act globally". Volunteerism must be encouraged at a regional level utilizing pre-existing resources as the Duval County Medical Society. If the endeavor were successful as a regional pilot project it would be a very scalable project with other regional or national medical societies. Increasing the availability of skilled medical personnel to medical relief organizations should lead to sustainable improvement in overall health care for a particular region. Convince International Relief Organizations of the inherent value of short-term (1-4 weeks) physician volunteers. Due to the duration of the engagement many more physicians will be willing and able to volunteer increasing the available supply. Promote a strong regional alliance between academic institutions (Mayo Clinic/University of Florida-Shands/Jax) and community-based physicians to implement a combined teaching and hands-on volunteer pool of doctors. Facilitate physician-organizational engagement process (organizational clearinghouse function).
Provide an on-line web-based directory of organizations which is easy to use. Provide a user restricted data-base of physician volunteers with user selected profiles (what personal information is accessible to the general public and organizations on-line). Provide access to education and training programs for physicians going overseas for the 1st time. IHVO does not sponsor or endorse specific trips or organizations. IHVO is not legally liable for the accuracy of its listed information. IHVO will receive a release of liability from all organizations and doctors which use its directory. Encourage financial or in-kind contributions as a 501-c-3 charitable organization. Encourage corporate support/sponsorship of our mission. Implementation
The web site search engine should be able to search for a particular organization by different criteria (using drop down menus). Considerations could include search by organization name, region of interest, projects available on a certain time, type of specialist needed, religious affiliation, language specific, etc.
Initial information for the database can be obtained by e-mails, faxes, or preferably directly on line from the web site. Organizations should be able to search the physician directory with a search engine which would allow identification of doctors by name, specialty, language proficiency, country/region of preference, religious affiliation, etc.
Specific language skills—please list languages in which you are fluent Specialty-specific organization—would prefer to affiliate with an organization which selectively utilizes like specialty physicians (i.e. Interplast—plastic surgery, orbis—ophthalmalogy, etc.), no preference Special requests—such as wilderness medicine, pediatric care, certain diseases (i.e. TB, AIDS,etc.), none Family considerations—list preferences—travel alone, with spouse, with entire family, no preference Please list any unique skills (or surgeries, procedures) you have—is there a role for elective procedures in your field? If so please list____________________. Do you have access to medical supplies, pharmaceutical, or durable medical goods, which could be donated to the organization? Please list____________________. The search engine would select a finite number of organizations (3-5), which would be most compatible with the doctor’s pre-defined preferences as outlined in the questionnaire. For instance a doctor could preference a particular time, region or specific organization to work with, etc. In addition the search engine would also assist volunteer-seeking organizations to locate physician volunteers that best fit the organizational goals and directives of a particular project or mission. Organizational inquiries regarding physician availability would be restricted to access as defined by physicians in their survey/profile. International Health Volunteers Organization (IHVO) is an independent, not for profit, humanitarian medical aid organization whose primary purpose is to establish an accessible repository of physicians, dentists and other medical experts who have the requisite skills and interest to assist in domestic and international short term medical relief projects. By establishing a database of interested physicians and medical personnel, we aim to facilitate the most advantageous, efficient, and streamlined placement of medical personnel. By developing a centralized web based clearinghouse for medical personnel and organizations, IHVO hopes to provide expeditious and optimal utilization and delivery of limited medical resources to underserved medical communities abroad. IHVO will establish affiliations with reputable medical outreach programs worldwide and enable them to search our repository of medical experts, to facilitate the engagement of essential medical personnel for a particular project. The ultimate objective of the organization is to provide skilled medical teams to improve the health of all the people to the highest level possible regardless of race, creed, gender, or religion. The goal is to collaborate with those organizations that work closely with local authorities to educate and train individuals to improve the regions health care by improvements in nutrition, sanitation, environmental hygiene, as well as preventative vaccination programs. We will collaborate with those reputable organizations that emphasize medical education and training of local authorities to provide prolonged measurable improvements in health care and that are committed to optimizing health care outcomes in underserved medical communities worldwide. The ultimate intent is to increase physician volunteerism in overseas medical projects by facilitating the discovery of organizations which best suit the physician’s talent, timetable, and interest.
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