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UNT Health Science Center hosted delegates from Poland last week as a part of the Open World Program facilitated by the Mid-Cities Pacesetters Rotary Club. The Bedford chapter of Rotary International. The campus visitors were here to learn about the U.S. health care system and were given an in-depth look at major systems in North Texas like HSC, John Peter Smith hospital and Cook Children’s hospital as well as others in the region.
“There is a list of about a hundred groups that want to come to the U.S. from the former Soviet Republic or Soviet satellites, like Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Turkistan and on and on,” said Bill Bracken, a Rotary Club representative. “Each of them identifies a theme related to what they want to learn about democracy when they come here. This particular group is focused on medical issues, especially oncology, blood work, cancer and related topics.”
With many stops to make, the delegates had about two hours on the HSC campus, which included a Q&A session with clinic and university leadership. The tour was organized by the director of corporate relations, Lee Ann Embry, in the Office of Institutional Advancement.
Daria Mejnartowicz, the Polish delegate facilitator, said a highlight of the tour was her group’s visit to HSC’s Regional Simulation Lab, which utilizes cutting-edge technology, including lifelike mannequins and the first fully immersive 3-D medical training rooms in the state.
“What captivated me in your institution was the hospitality, great commitment and cordiality with which you welcomed our group,” said delegate facilitator Daria Mejnartowicz. “We felt honored and taken care of by your teachers and management staff. I especially liked the simulation rooms for nurses and radiologists, where you can study anatomy and pathoanatomy in depth using the Anatomage.”
Mejnartowicz noted that U.S. simulation centers typically have models of people with different skin colors, which are not available in Poland.
Jessica Rangle, HSC’s executive VP of Health Systems, said the sim lab is just one example of the types of on-campus resources that compel outsiders to take a closer look at HSC.
“Collaborations such as this become a force multiplier in enhancing the educational experience for learners,” she said. “It’s the inherently collaborative nature of HSC that opens up opportunities to share this knowledge with others. It was an honor to spend time with the Polish delegation, who were medical professionals and educators just like us who are seeking best practices to take back home.”
Along with representatives from the Bedford Rotary Club, Precinct 3 Tarrant County Commissioner Gary Fickes helped orchestrate the visit.
The Bedford Rotary Club has organized six international visits over the past seven years, finding host families to house delegates for an immersive American experience. The Congressional Office for International Leadership funds the Open World Program.
On this visit, Polish delegates spent two days in Washington D.C. before flying into North Texas for the week. While most of their schedule was filled with experiences related to medicine, they also got a taste of Fort Worth with a visit to the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, horseback riding at Camp Carter, barbecue and a trip to Billy Bob’s Texas.
Rangel said these types of international exchanges can only lead to better health care outcomes.
“With frequent international travel, we are all dealing with similar diseases, transmissions, research and care delivery,” she said. “Sharing best practices only enhances each other’s medical education delivery both locally and internationally.”
Mejnartowicz said HSC was one of two modern and innovative simulation centers the group visited while in North Texas.
“I noticed the great passion and commitment with which the teaching staff conducted our tour and proudly told us about their work,” she said. “I would like to be 20 years younger and become an HSC student.”
“This will change the way we work.”
That’s how Agnieszka Szuscik-Zieba, summarized a tour of Tarrant County College’s health science and nursing facilities by a group of health care administrators from Poland.
“I think we’ve seen here some methods and attitudes that we can take and provide in our everyday work and that we can also pass along to doctors and patients,” said Szuscik-Zieba, whose company trains physicians how best to interact with patients.
She was particularly impressed in that TCC teaches that a major part of patient care is to be empathetic and compassionate and to see to the patient’s mental as well as physical state. “I never thought that teaching about patient-doctor communications and teaching about clinical services can be combined,” she said.
She and five colleagues were in Tarrant County under the Open World Program sponsored by the Congressional Office for International Leadership. Established by Congress in 1999, the program brings emerging leaders from around the world to learn first-hand about aspects of American life such as government, health care and education. Delegates are hosted and specifics of the visit arranged by local groups such as Rotary Clubs.
It was the Rotary connection, in fact, that brought the group to TCC. When Senior Accounting Manager Stephanie Duelm, a member of the Mid-Cities Pacesetter Club, learned the club was to host a health care team, she thought TCC’s nursing and health science programs would be a perfect fit. Brandon Hernandez and Irma Aguilar-Coker, deans of Health Sciences and Nursing respectively, couldn’t have agreed more.
This was the club’s eighth time to host such an event and Duelm’s third time to take part. “You (the sponsoring club) have to prove you’re able to put on a good program,” she said. “We have members with different professional connections who can arrange presentations. All week long there’s program after program, so hopefully they’ll get a good exposure to the U.S. healthcare system.
But it’s much more than organizing tours. “We also need people to host the delegates in their homes,” she said, “so I host two delegates in my house every time we do it, which is really fun and a good experience for my kids to meet people from other parts of the world.”
The day began with breakfast burritos and greetings from Trinity River President Sean Madison and the respective deans, after which the tour set out for the Surgical Technology lab. Coordinator Jeffrey Leonard was on hand to describe what students were busy doing and talk about the program, not neglecting to mention his students’ stellar record on certification exams and in landing jobs.
Next up was Diagnostic Medical Sonography where Coordinator Jackie Bennett emphasized how students are taught how to interact with patients, explaining step-by-step what is happening during a procedure. Delegate Szuscik-Zieba was particularly interested in this aspect and asked numerous questions. Indeed, so many questions were asked during the tour that the deans were hard put to stick to the schedule.
The group then moved on to the Nuclear Medicine lab where Instructor Tonya Pigulski showed off her new baby – a scintillation or “gamma” camera (price tag $250,000) that can be used to track and analyze images of the human body or to pinpoint cancers from gamma rays emitted from radioactive materials introduced into the body.
The Physical Therapist Assistant program then had its turn, and Holly Dickson was asked if many of her graduates eventually earn the advanced university degrees necessary to become Registered Physical Therapists. Dickson said that while some do, many prefer the hands-on patient treatment done by PTAs as opposed to the mainly administrative duties of the registered therapist and at a vastly lower investment in time and money.
Another technological marvel was on view next as Brian Spence of Radiological Technology (most often known simply as x-ray) demonstrated the Anatomage Table, a fully segmented human 3D anatomy platform by which a body or body part can be examined layer by layer, enabling students to learn correct patient positioning.
Lastly it was nursing’s turn. Instructor Tanya Rose grilled a group of students as to which medications they might give a patient-based information on vital signs and complaint. She had taken pains to tell the visitors that these students were not yet ready for such an exercise, but she needn’t have worried. They aced the quiz.
The tour ended in Nursing’s simulation hospital where several patients were on view, from a woman in labor to a victim of some obviously serious mishap. The group had a laugh when instructor Johanna Rosser displayed a mannequin so anatomically correct that the switching of a couple of key parts could make a he into a she.
There was just enough time remaining for a team photo and some off-the-cuff reactions. “I’m really impressed,” said Andrezej Szczepanik, coordinator of a blood disease donor matching program, “You have plenty of programs and a really good staff with good equipment. The best thing for me was that the students can learn by doing, not just lectures. The teachers are really open and they’re full of energy.”
“The delegation seemed very enthusiastic and interested in the manner by which TCC trains its students in Health Sciences,” Hernandez said. “More specifically, each visitor was able to witness a variety of lab spaces and the updated technologies that our students engage with on a daily basis.”
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