International EMS Project - Vietnam

Based in Ontario, Canada, a group called Good Samaritans Medical Ministry organizes a yearly summer project, going deep into rural Vietnam to provide clinic-based medical care, as well as identify individuals who need more advanced surgical care. These individuals are then transported to one of the main cities (often Hanoi), where a group will pay for their surgery and aftercare.

The group's leader recognized an area of major deficiency in Vietnam's medical system is emergency medicine. Thus, the first annual Vietnam emergency medicine trip was born.

Samuel Cloud, DO, and several other emergency physicians and registered nurses went on this trip in January 2006. During this trip, areas of future needs were accessed, BTLS was taught to the new EMS providers using a trauma mannequin provided by Laerdel; CPR and trauma lectures were also taught at the medical school in Hue. This trip will become a yearly event.

Future focus will be on teaching ATLS and ACLS courses, as well as more core emergency medicine topics at the medical school. There is also a plan to start an emergency medicine residency program at the medical school within the next couple of years.