Visiting Scholar Program

Two BIDMC CRNAs travel to Liberia to train the trainers once per year for a 10-day training program to provide didactic and clinical mentoring around anesthesia best practices adapted to the local context and need.

The aim of the Visiting Scholar Program is to build capacity for continuous professional development for Liberian and US nurse anesthetists through transnational collaboration and hands-on sharing of anesthesia best practices at the point-of-care.

Nurse anesthetists from the U.S. partner institutions travel to Liberia for two weeks, specifically Phebe and the affiliated hospitals where anesthesia students are placed for attachment. The focus is to provide in-situ didactic and/or clinical mentoring around anesthesia best practices adapted to the local context and need. All visiting anesthesia scholars go through a pre-departure orientation to learn the local context (clinical and cultural).

In support of this initiative BAAC funds all costs associated with this initiative including paid time off, travel and in-country expenses.

Check out the links below for "updates from the field."

What you need to know before going:

Participating in a transnational exchange such as BAAC Visiting Scholar Program is an amazing and a privilege for western-trained clinicians to experience healthcare in a different region of the world. Along with this opportunity comes the responsibility to understand the cross-cultural and healthcare content in the country to which you will travel. We invite you to explore the resources below to assist you in preparing for this life-changing experience.

Pre-Departure Cultural Context Awareness Training

Developed by our partner institution, Northeastern University with BAAC input, this learning module introduces clinicians traveling to resource-constrained settings to important cultural concepts and anesthesia training pedagogy that vary by region.

Pre-Departure Cultural Awareness Training

Additional readings

Additional readings to prepare for the challenges and opportunities inherent in effective transnational exchanges and projects can be found below.

Traveling to resource-constrained settings requires a mindset that the experience is meant to confer bidirectional benefits to both parties. The article below by Healey-Walsh, Stuart-Shor and Muchira proposes a model for viewing the experience as a partnershpipartnership and through the lens of bidirectional sharing of benefits and burden. (link to the pdf of the article which I will send to you)

Healey-Walsh J, Stuart-Shor E, Muchira J. Through the Lens of Postcolonial Theory: Establishing Global North-South Partnerships. Nurs Educ Perspect. 2019 Sep/Oct;40(5):270-277. doi: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000556. PMID: 31436689