Learning globally to enhance local practice: an international programme in primary care & family health

In a global context of growing health inequities, international learning experiences have become a popular strategy for equipping health professionals with skills, knowledge, and competencies required to work with the populations they serve. This study sought to analyse the Chilean Interprofessional Programme in Primary Health Care (CIPPHC), a 5 week international learning experience funded by the Ministry of Health in Chile targeted at Chilean primary care providers and delivered in Toronto by the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

The study focused on three cohorts of students (2010-2012). Anonymous programme evaluations were analysed and semi-structured interviews conducted with programme alumni. Simple descriptive statistics were gathered from the evaluations and the interviews were analysed via thematic content analysis.

The majority of participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the training programme, knowledge gain, particularly in the areas of the Canadian model of primary care, and found the materials delivered to be applicable to their local context.

The CIPPHC has proven to be a successful educational initiative and provides valuable lessons for other academic centres in developing international interprofessional training programmes for primary care health care providers.