Aims and ideas of the health professions working group

The group addresses health professions beyond physicians (i.e. nurses, midwives, psychologists, occupational and physio therapists) and anyone who is interested in the topic.

Aims of the group are

  1. Exchange of experience and expertise
  2. Connecting people who have worked or work outside of Germany – i.e. in crisis areas or in partner countries for development aid – and/or who are interested in dealing with that topic.
  3. Exchange of teaching materials
  4. Creating a pool of experts

 

General information

Projects

It is our goal to provide access to projects of nurses in partner countries: a list of active blogs of  nurses or our own GTP internal forum could increase exchange of experience. This way, nurses with no prior experience abroad can gain access to the topic. Exchanging experience will serve ongoing learning as well as problem solving. In the future, nurses experienced abroad who are willing to support a project for several weeks (e.g. for a workshop, training, practical guidance etc.) can be contacte via this group. Furthermore, ways and contacts for fundraising can be shared.

Market of ideas for context-adequate strategies

Each health professional has collected valuable experience working abroad, has solved problems and accumulated knowledge or is still occupied finding longterm solutions. Finding strategies that are adequate for health professionals in resource-limited settings can be a challenge. This working group offers the opportunity of collecting ideas and making them available for colleagues.

Particularly longterm problems outside the focus of medical interventions, such as estabilshing a high level of hygiene on a paediatric ward, can be discussed within this working group.

Different health professions in projects of development cooperation

Health professionals have always been part of projects of various organisations (GIZ, Caritas, MSF etc.). While platforms for networking of doctors exist, activities related to other health professions are currently restricted to personal blogs and a presence within the respective organisation.

Having this working group under the auspices of GTP, a society previously focussing on doctors, enables us to establish a direct and straight forward cooperation with experienced doctors, which is, in our experience, a prerequisite for successful development in the health sector.

We are looking forward to your active contribution and a vivid exchange within the working group!

Contact

Irene Schmidt, Paediatric intensive care nurse and Michael Galatsch, nursing scientist
E-Mail: ag-gesundheitsfachberufe@tropenpaediatrie.de