Canadian International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO)

Final Report To The Funding Network (TFN)

The Funding Network (TFN) provided a grant to the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO) in the summer of 2007 in support of summer student elective program in paediatric emergency medicine and peace building bringing together Canadian, Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian medical students to study for one month at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Thanks to the support of the Funding Network and other generous donors, the summer student elective was a great success meeting its goals in continuing medical education, peace education, and modelling peaceful professional cooperation, one of CISEPO’s organizational goals.

“I always believe that building bridges through science is something great…and CISEPO is really a great example…how can you collect people and make them sit them at one table. …even discuss things… even if they discuss it in a strong way…but you know at the end you have an idea that we are here to exchange science, exchange ideas and to try to make something for the future, for us as humans and not as nations.”

– 2007 IPEME Participant

Background

CISEPO is a network of Canadian, Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian doctors, research scientists, academics and health care professionals working together to improve the health and well-being of children affected by genetic disorders while modelling peaceful cross border professional cooperation as its contribution to a broad based equitable and durable peace in the Middle East. CISEPO has operated three earlier summer elective programs successfully bringing together Canadian, Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian medical students to participate in month long intensive programs in child nutrition, otolaryngology, and paediatric oncology. In 2007, the decision was made to combine continuing medical education with an explicit commitment to peacebuilding and for CISEPO to work in cooperation with the Hospital for Sick Children, the Peter A. Silverman Centre for International Health at Mount Sinai Hospital. Representatives of all three institutions worked together out of a shared commitment to health programming as a bridge to peace, a reflection of the World Health Assembly Resolution of 1981, which stated that ‘The role of physicians and other health workers in the preservation and promotion of peace is the most significant factor for the attainment of health for all’.

IPEME 2007

The decision was made in 2007 to focus the continuing medical education component of the program on paediatric emergency medicine because of the world wide reputation of the Hospital for Sick Children but also because paediatric emergency medicine provides the students with an introduction to a wide range of health care challenges in the context of a single area of medical specialization. The positive experience in 2007 confirmed the planners’ decision to focus on paediatric emergency medicine, which will be used henceforth for the continuing medical education component and the program itself will be known as the International Paediatric Emergency MedicineElective (IPEME). Furthermore, as a result of its successful implementation in 2007, the IPEME has now received full formal academic recognition from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine as a fully accredited student elective, for which academic credits can be provided.

The 2007 IPEME consisted of:

A team of eight student participants (2 Canadian, 2 Israeli, 2 Jordanian, 2 Palestinian) in a month long comprehensive introductory program;
Paediatric emergency medicine lectures, delivered by faculty at the University of Toronto and affiliated teaching hospitals (Hospital for Sick Children, Sunnybrook Hospital, East General Hospital) covering such areas as respiratory infections, digestive disorders, blood disorders, infectious diseases, accidents;
Lectures on special topics such as diversity in the workplace; chaplaincy and attention to spiritual and cultural needs, and conflict resolution in the workplace,
Practical clinical seminars in emergency resuscitation, casting and splinting of broken and sprained joints and limbs, suturing;
Scheduled shadow shifts in the actual paediatric emergency department at the Hospital for Sick Children;
Formal peace building components such as aboriginal ‘circle’ methodology for alternate forms of dispute resolution;
Organized social activities such as an evening of shared food preparation so as to explore social and cultural differences and convergences in a warm, welcoming, motivating activity.
A joint research project of their own definition, design, and implementation. Students were divided into two groups of each consisting of a Canadian, an Israeli, a Jordanian and a Palestinian and each group participated in a collaborative research project that could be carried out upon their return home.
The IPEME was assessed using a programme evaluation approach which links programme process to outcome and was analyzed by examining student motivation for participation and outcomes, within several key areas at the end of the elective.

Though it was not part of the formal programme for the 2007 IPEME, the summer elective provided a unique opportunity for exposure to peace building and coping with diversity as the participants experienced life in one of the world’s most diverse cities and a society in which there are municipal, provincial, and federal laws, policies and procedures to ensure equity, respect for diversity, and equality of access to resources and opportunities.

Conclusion

International health electives can create ‘a health bridge to peace’, in helping to encourage professional capacity building in health care services and the modeling of peaceful professional cooperation between individuals from different ‘sides’ in situations of conflict. Because of their ability to offer a neutral setting for the acquisition of medical knowledge and their emphasis on humanitarianism, these electives provide participants with opportunities for development in the field of medicine whilst simultaneously fostering peace building, leadership and teamwork.

Prepared by: Andrew Ignatieff, Executive Director-CISEPO
April 4 2008
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