05.12.2011
IFH conducted the Study Tour to USA for Moscow Maternity Hospital # 4
US-Russian collaboration on MCH topics under the US-Russia Presidential Commission has been intensifying, thanks to USAID support. A just-concluded study tour to Syracuse, New York, conducted by the Institutionalizing Best Practices in Maternal and Child Health (IBP-MCH) Project is an outstanding example of a highly fruitful professional collaboration.The tour was conducted on November 27 - December 02 2011.
The initiative for the visit came from Dr. Olga Sharapova, the Head Doctor of Maternity #4, the largest maternity hospital in Moscow, with 8,000 births a year. The hospital recently joined the project and is eager to adopt the new evidence-based practices in maternal and newborn care promoted by the project. However, initiating such sweeping changes in a large hospital is challenging and Dr. Sharapova wanted to give her team a concrete vision of what they should be aiming for. She approached IBP-MCH Chief of Party, Natalia Vartapetova, with a request for a study tour to a model facility in the US and the two worked together to identify funding. Proctor and Gamble and “Soglasiye”, a large insurance company, generously agreed to support the cost of a visit for 10 people, with the project funding Dr. Vartapetova’s trip and the costs of an interpreter.
With funding assured, IBP-MCH turned to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to see how they might be able to help. ACOG has been working with the project for the past three years to share US approaches to MCH care with leaders in the Russian MCH community. The immediate past President of ACOG, Dr. Richard Waldman, who has already visited Russia twice and has hosted Russian delegations at ACOG events, was eager to help. It didn’t take long for him to arrange for St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, NY, where he practices and Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester to host the group. He worked with the hospital administration and staff to pull together a program specifically tailored to the needs of a Russian group, to arrange meals and after-hours entertainment—all financed by the hospital—because of his belief that women and infants in Russia are entitled to the same quality of care in childbirth as their sisters in the US.
A simulation excercise during the visit to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
For a week, St. Joseph’s staff gave lectures, participated in discussions and worked with their Russian guests to show them how they provide modern evidence-based care in ways that are woman- and family-centered, while having systems in place for medical interventions to ensure the safety of mother and baby when needed. Coming from an authoritarian health system, the guests were particularly surprised by the formal communications protocols that are key to effective team-work, particularly in emergencies, and by the quality improvement teams charged with working continuously to upgrade care at the hospital. The study tour was not just a one-way street and St. Joseph’s staff also learned a lot about the Russian health system and some of the surgical techniques used in Russia. St. Joseph’s also wanted to give the group a taste of American culture and laid on lavish Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, shared with hospital counterparts and greatly appreciated by the Russians.
At the end of the visit, the Russian group left inspired by what they had seen and learned and determined to re-shape the care provided at Moscow Maternity #4. They already had plans in place for a follow-up meeting right after their return home to map how to move forward. Dr. Olga Sharapova officially thanked for the organization of the Study tour and shared impressions of the group: “Practices and experience learned by our medical providers at St. Joseph s Hospital Health Center is very valuable. We are sure that gained knowledge, methods of treatment and international standards will be successfully implemented in our maternity hospital”. On the US side, the hosts at St. Joseph’s felt deeply honored to have international guests to learn from their work and they were so energized about the exchanges during the week that they said they would love to host another group!
Chirstmas dinner in Syracuse: Dr. Natalia Vartapetova, Dr. Richard Waldman (in the center) and medical providers from Maternity # 4.