– Dr Karen Gordon-Boyle tells medical research conference

DOCTORS, nurses and medical students in Guyana were briefed on new research and findings in the local medical field and how they can use this information during the 11th Annual Guyana Medical Scientific Research Conference.
The event took place at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Sunday and was hosted by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) Institute of Health Science Education (IHSE).

Held under the theme: ‘Refining Health Care in Guyana through continuous Medical Research’, the conference focused on a range of fields and topics such as diabetes, breast cancer, seizures, neonatal care, neurology and more.

During the opening ceremony, IHSE Director Dr. Alexandria Harvey stated that the conference places special emphasis on local research conducted on Guyanese patients.
With research being a key role in the development of quality health care, she explained that focusing on local research makes all findings directly applicable to the Guyanese society
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Health, Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle encouraged the audience to never lose their capacity to be inquisitive.
She underscored the need for medical practitioners to utilise research to increase their capacity on how several external factors can influence the health of Guyanese in different regions.

“I challenge you to see each patient [not only] as a unique opportunity to apply all that you have learnt to improve the quality of patient care and management; but also to see each patient as an opportunity to learn how the individual’s history, place of birth, where they grew up, played, worked or lived can impact their ability to achieve optimal health,” she said.

The DCMO also took the opportunity to spread awareness about the ministry’s Life Course approach; this approach recognises the environmental, economic and social factors and the consequential behavioural and biological processes that act across all stages of life to affect disease risk.

Telling of a recent trip to Region One (Barima-Waini), Dr Gordon-Boyle highlighted that there are still inequalities and patterns of morbidity in some regions of the country, which may be linked to social factors.

“I recognised that a young man between the ages of 18 and 30 in that region is much more likely to interface with the health services due to stab wounds, lacerations or other violence-related injuries, than would another of a similar age in, let’s say, Region Four,” she said, adding:
“These social inequalities and morbidity patterns are stark reminders that when planning for our health services we have to have the human being, the person in mind… and need to ensure that we counter the social, cultural and geographic cluster of risk factors with health services specifically designed to mitigate them.”

This, she stressed, can only be accomplished through a drive to know more and a willingness to serve the underprivileged in most remote regions of the country.
“[You must recognise] that this is an opportunity to take all that you have learnt to make the biggest impact where it’s needed most; to change the landscape of disease patterns by including quality of healthcare one patient at a time, but doing so where it is needed most,” Dr Gordon-Boyle advised.

To further encourage research, since its last conference, the IHSE has introduced a hands-on training workshop on research and statistics, as well as a mandatory residency training programme in research.

Meanwhile, the programme also allowed for breakout sessions for discussions; for the viewing of health booths and for questions to be asked and answered at the end of each session.