Destination Temple Health: Caribbean Physicians Observe Care at Our Hospitals

A handful of Caribbean physicians spent a week in mid-October observing patient care and medical procedures at Temple University Hospital (TUH) and Fox Chase Cancer Center. Their visits were initiated and funded by Philadelphia International Medicine (PIM), a collaborative partnership between TUH, Fox Chase, and other area medical centers.

PIM’s Physician Partnership Program, now in its second year, provided an opportunity for global physicians and surgeons to meet in Philadelphia for an intensive, one-week clinical observership experience. PIM selected the physicians through a competitive application process.

Jamaican physicians Lori-Ann Cherie Lee, MD, and Duane Wedderburn, MD, were paired with Ahmed Soliman, MD, Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and Director of the Voice, Airway and Swallowing Center at Temple. Drs. Lee and Wedderburn are currently residents at King Edward Hospital in Bermuda and have an interest in pursuing otolaryngology as a specialty. All the visiting physicians at TUH and Fox Chase made rounds, observed medical care and clinical treatment discussions, and monitored the patient-care process.

“It’s really nice to see the things that you read about in the textbooks in motion,” Dr. Lee said. “And it’s offering me the opportunity to see procedures that I would never have seen in Bermuda.”

“That was the highlight of the week for me,” Dr. Wedderburn said of the procedures they observed. “We saw a transsphenoidal resection of a pituitary tumor here at the hospital, and that was a great experience. We also observed a robotic surgery at Fox Chase.”