Pieter Haasnoot is a 28 years old Doctor International Health and Tropical Medicine. He is currently completing his training and seeks to work in low resource settings in the near future. His presentation will provide information and insight in the renewed Dutch Doctor International Health and Tropical Medicine training program.
The Dutch training programme “Doctor in International Health and Tropical Medicine (DIHTM)”is
unique in the world. This post-graduate training prepares doctors for work at the cross roads of
clinical care and public health in an international setting for disadvantaged populations. This field of
work requires competences such as creativity, flexibility and determination.
The DIHTM is characterized by the knowledge and skills for making an analysis of the health status
and factors influencing this, of individuals and populations, in an international context enabling
prioritisation and decision making, particularly in resource poor settings. The DIHTM is able to
provide ethically sound and cost-effective preventive and curative care for diseased people (patients)
and for healthy people (clients) as well as for groups of people (target groups).
Based on an experience of more than 40 years, the training has evolved into a modern curriculum,
based on the CanMeds 7 domains of competences. The recently achieved recognition of the DIHTM
by the Royal Dutch Association of Physicians provides an opportunity for further quality assurance in
the training programme.
The new programme is built up of 4 components:
- Nine month of clinical training (residential) in surgery, either paediatrics,
- Nine month of clinical training (residential) in gynaecology and obstetrics,
- Additional short training sessions (one day) to gain specific medical skills (for example: ENT,
paediatrics, radiology, rehabilitation, fracture management including POP and external
fixation workshops, bowel suturing, wound management, eye diseases, etc.)
- The Diploma course (3 months full time) in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the Royal
Tropical Institute (KIT).
- Six month of clinical training (residential) in a resource poor environment.
The training includes clinical parts, international priorities in health care, clinical care, health
promotion and prevention, health systems, intercultural aspects of health care, management,
governance and advocacy of health. These parts complete the generalist profile of the DIHTM.
What is new in the programme is the clinical training in a low-income country. Collaboration is
sought with teaching hospitals to place the trainees. A prerequisite for all the clinical training is high
quality supervision, critical for successful training.