Developing global health residency tracks through a shared GH curriculum: The experience from christiana care health system

Global health is of increasing interest among health sciences learners. Residency programs, especially in primary care, have been developing curricula and tracks in this area. The Global Health Program at Christiana Care Health System (CCHS), Jefferson Medical College's largest teaching hospital, was developed to improve the knowledge and skills of interested health professionals. This led to the development of GH Tracks in two of our major primary care residencies.

CCHS launched the Global Health Program in August 2011, and starting in 2013-14, the departments of Family Medicine & Internal Medicine started Global Health residency tracks.

In order to draw interest/expertise from a variety of backgrounds, we includes CCHS medical staff, as well as colleagues within the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance: DuPont Hospital for Children, University of Delaware & Thomas Jefferson University. The core curriculum consists of monthly lectures, 3 grand rounds speakers annually, and a journal/video club. Required components include attendance at discussions, and experiential work in a relevant setting, whether abroad or local. While travel is not a requirement, we continued our partnership with sites in developed and developing settings to develop a robust elective program, based on sound principles of bilateral engagement.

We present a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to global health education for residents. Our GH residency tracks will instill this in the next generation of primary care physicians and help us act out locally what we learn globally.