First Person: Mission Trip to Vietnam
Dr. Maria Matuszczak traveled to Vietnam from March 3-17, 2023 and was one of 25 volunteers that worked with Vietnam National Children’s Hospital (VNCH) (a 2,500-bed children’s hospital that is the national tertiary referral center), Viet Duc Hospital (the busiest trauma hospital in the country), Hong Ngoc Hospital (a large private hospital), and Bach Mai Hospital. They performed complex craniofacial surgery, including intracranial surgery, microtia (ear reconstruction), hand surgery (pollicization or making a new thumb), microsurgery with free tissue transfer, and removal of tumors side by side with our Vietnamese partners. The purpose of the trip is to continue providing multi-faceted clinical training, as well as education, in order for our Vietnamese partners to provide these procedures for their patients on their own. The work is done through our departmental global surgery program under the umbrella of the McGovern Center for Global Health, and we have a signed MOU with VNCH as well as Hong Ngoc. Since then Dr. Matuszczak has started a zoom lecture series concerning pediatric anesthesia topics and over 200 Vietnamese anesthesiologists have joined.
Dr. Matuszczak shared her first-hand account:
This was my first trip to Vietnam and my first time working with Nuoy Reconstructive International. The goal of my participation in this mission was to establish a relationship with the team of pediatric anesthesiologists working in the different hospitals. I was impressed by the quality of care they provide to these syndromic and sick children, all this with limited access to devices that we consider standard in the western world. I was received with an incredible hospitality. The willingness to learn, to understand different approaches, to see how pediatric anesthesia management can be done differently was and is incredible. I have given several lectures in the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital and in the Hong Ngoc Hospital were many of the children’s surgery is done. During the daylong seminar series at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi I presented a lecture concerning the pediatric difficult airway, a most important pediatric anesthesia topic especially for pediatric reconstructive surgery cases. As Dr, Nguyen mentioned about the most important mission here is to share knowledge not to go someplace provide anesthesia/surgery and then go home. My commitment is to teaching pediatric anesthesia, as of today there is no formal pediatric anesthesia training in Vietnam. Already in Hanoi I started a zoom lecture series that I have continue coming back to Houston. The plan is to have a monthly zoom lecture for now with pediatric anesthesia topics. During my first zoom lecture 187 anesthesiologists from all over Vietnam joined. I am thankful to the Vietnamese pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Hang Nguyen to being instrumental in organizing the zoom lectures and for Dr. Thao Giang to patiently translate every word I say. I hope that my Houston pediatric anesthesiology colleagues will join in this endeavor. I am very grateful to Dr. Nguyen and the Nuoy team to have been given the opportunity to participate in this mission.
More information can be found at: https://med.uth.edu/blog/2023/05/18/first-person-mission-to-vietnam/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scoop_May-18-2023