Honduras BMET Session Two Completed

The second session of BMET Continuing Education program in Honduras was completed successfully, running for four weeks from May 30 to June 24 with 20 participants representing 11 public hospitals and clinics throughout the country. The training was conducted in collaboration with Instituto Nacional de Formación Profesional (INFOP), the local educational partner, and with support from the GE Foundation. INFOP provided valuable administrative support to the program, including instructors, transportation, translation, and facilities. INFOP is preparing to become the sustained home of the BMET training program in Honduras, and has identified three instructors who will teach new Honduran students after the direct involvement of the EWH program comes to an end in several years.

Topics for the training session included healthcare technology management (HTM), professional development, English, electronics, and specific training on repair and maintenance of medical equipment. English courses were provided by INFOP in the morning from 10am to noon, while EWH delivered the BMET content in the afternoons from 1pm to 7pm. Our partners at Duke University worked with us to develop the BMET curriculum. Original teaching materials in these topics were developed by Lillian Gu, and the lessons were successfully implemented in the classroom.

The courses were taught by the EWH BMET staff, Rob Campbell and Justin Cooper, with support from guest instructor Alan Ordonez. Campbell delivered several lessons on the topic of management and negotiation of service contracts, drawing on his extensive experience in this field as a BMET in the US. He also delivered on-site training on infant incubators at Hospital San Felipe in Tegucigalpa. Cooper manages the project as BMET Coordinator for Honduras, and taught lessons in HTM, professional development, and electronics. Courses in professional development were also delivered by Rony Meza, who provides constant support to the program as the EWH On-the-Ground Coordinator in Tegucigalpa.

Ordonez is originally from Honduras and is now a BMET at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. He provided the students with training on four types of medical devices, including nebulizers, infusion pumps, suction pumps, and centrifuges. His interactive training included lectures on the basic principles and theory of operation, followed by in-depth hands-on training on the devices. Ordonez was able to connect with the students quickly and effectively deliver the training materials thanks to his shared home country with the participants and his strong communication skills. In addition to the technical material, he was able to impart other important messages to the students, including the importance of HTM skills, such as careful documentation of equipment records and work orders, an area of need in Honduras that is emphasized in our curriculum. He was also able to convey the values and ethics that are necessary for a BMET to improve healthcare outcomes for patients.

At the conclusion of the program, EWH was able to donate numerous pieces of medical equipment, supplies, and tools to INFOP, including five centrifuges, six suction pumps, over 20 infusion pumps, and six nebulizers. These devices will allow INFOP to build its inventory of medical equipment for training and demonstration purposes in future classes. In addition, computers were donated to each BMET participant working as a technician at a public hospital in Honduras to enable their completion of the computerized inventory and other HTM practices while in their hospitals.