Kamar Tanyan
Mary Begg Clinic, Zambia
Title: Primary health care challenges in remote medical setting
Biography
Biography: Kamar Tanyan
Abstract
Providing healthcare in remote locations means working without the level of medical support that most health professionals are used to have at their disposal. It requires a different mindset to that of an urban medical facility. Illnesses which can be easily managed in the urban setting may initiate a crisis at a remote health facility. Operating in resource-limited primary health care settings presents a multitude of health challenges especially in the third world such African countries. Remote healthcare professionals face major challenges, including a critical shortage of specialized health workers, poor state of health facilities and equipment; add to it the high burden of epidemic disease such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. Remote medical practitioners require a broad range of competencies in several specialties, including emergency and critical care, primary care mental health, public health, occupational health, pharmacy, dentistry, health management and interpersonal skills. They are forced to utilize more basic physical examination skills, clinical impression and overall clinical experience. Likewise, not having necessary diagnostic testing, remote medical practitioners may feel the need to be more aggressive in treatment and act faster. Not having the luxury of being able to definitively assign a diagnosis to an illness, they may feel the need to cover the patient for the worse potential diagnosis as possible. Not only do these factors increase the risk of worsening illness or injury due to delays in diagnosis and treatment, they also confront remote medical clinicians to the key question “where responsibility for providing care starts and stops”? These issues have made providing higher standards of care in remote third world countries an infinite complex challenge. This presentation provides an oversight into some of the key issues facing the delivery of primary healthcare and doctors’ challenges in remote medical setting and describes the role remote primary health care professional can play in delivering a lifesaving care.
