East Meets West: DFM’s China Collaboration Thriving, Expanding

Over the past seven years, the Department of Family Medicine (DFM) has cultivated an innovative collaboration with physicians at Beijing's FuXing Hospital, a hospital affiliated with the Capitol University of Medical Science.

With a successful physician exchange program, plus many new educational and scholarly accomplishments, that collaboration continues to influence the discipline of family medicine on both sides of the Pacific.

Physician Exchange

In May, Dr. Yan ChunZe and Dr. Sun YanGe, physicians from the Yuetan Community Health Service Center in Beijing, spent two weeks in Wisconsin learning more about how family practice is taught and practiced in the United States.

Drs. Yan and Sun first spent a week with the Madison residency program, observing clinics, hospital services, and seminars. They then traveled to Neillsville, Wisconsin, for a week with Dean Funk, MD, a physician affiliated with the DFM who was instrumental in establishing the exchange program.

With translation assistance from Jie Wang, MD, the two doctors offered their perspectives on the differences between family medicine in the United States and China. "One of the biggest differences between the US and China is the clinical environment we offer to patients," Dr. Yan said. "In China, two to three doctors share an office, and they each see patients at the same time in that same room."

Dr. Sun noted that family medicine residents receive more clinic experience than their Chinese counterparts. "In China, residents only spend about a half-year in the clinic," she said. "More clinic-focused training would help them better prepare to treat patients in the community."

The experience has also given the two doctors new ideas to take home to China. Noting how much support American family physicians receive from social workers, physician assistants, and other clinicians, Dr. Yan would like to introduce a similar teamwork concept in China.

And Dr. Sun is interested in exploring better physician continuity between hospitals and community health centers. In China, doctors work for either a clinic or a hospital, so they cannot care for a patient in both locations.

As in a true exchange program, the DFM also plays the role of guest, not just host. Our faculty have participated in the Beijing Symposium on Family Medicine and Community Health Services every year since it began in 2004. DFM faculty, residents, and fellows have had many opportunities to tour China and learn more about Traditional Chinese Medicine, and in April, two medical students participated in the program's first rotation in China.

Health Care Administrators' Conference

Also in May, the DFM hosted a three-day primary care conference for Chinese community health service administrators. Through educational sessions presented by DFM faculty and staff, the conference provided an overview of how family practice is provided, taught, administered, and financed in the United States.

The conference also included tours of the Wingra Family Medical Center, the Access Community Health Center, the Health Sciences Learning Center, and the UW Hospital family medicine service.

Attendees included physicians from community health centers and hospitals in Beijing and other provinces. Dr. Du XuePing, vice president of FuXing Hospital, and Dr. Li ChangMing, vice director of China's national community health association, also attended.

Joint Scholarship

Last year, the journal Family Medicine published a paper co-written by three DFM faculty and two Chinese colleagues. In the paper, the authors discuss the history of health care reform in China, new government resolutions that stress the role of family physicians in the health care system, and the educational challenges of training family physicians to meet these new mandates.

• Full article: Primary Care Reform in the Peoples’ Republic of China:
  Implications for Training Family Physicians for the World’s Largest Country

DFM faculty are also working to open up research channels with their Chinese colleagues. A current study, in collaboration with the UW Department of Population Health Sciences, is investigating smoking among family physicians in China. Principal Investigator Marion Ceraso, MS, will be traveling to China soon to finish data collection.

About the Collaboration

The DFM's collaboration with China began in 2001, when four faculty traveled to Beijing for a rotation on primary health care in China. During that visit, they met Dr. XuePing Du, the vice president of FuXing Hospital in Beijing.

Over the next three years, a professional collaboration with Dr. Du evolved, and in 2004, the DFM and FuXing Hospital formalized the physician exchange program.

Faculty involved with the exchange have included Jie Wang, MD; Kenneth Kushner, PhD; John Frey, MD; Craig Gjerde, PhD; David Rakel, MD, Melissa Stiles, MD, Jonathan Temte, MD, PhD; and Kathleen Walsh, MD. Numerous residents, fellows, and students have also participated in the exchange.

According to Kenneth Kushner, PhD, benefits of the collaboration include:

1. Influencing the quality of family medicine education and practice in China. With family medicine a key component of its new health care initiative, China is seeking help from the US to develop new educational standards and improve the efficiency of its medical system.
2. Education in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The exchange offers an unprecedented opportunity for American family physicians to observe real-life TCM practice in its original setting.
3. Joint scholarship. Mutual interests between DFM faculty and their Chinese colleagues are evolving into research projects and publications.
4. Improved cultural sensitivity. Travel and collaboration provide valuable insight into cultural differences, language barriers, and global health concerns-important components of any physician's education.

The program's success has given the DFM a ground-breaking presence in China. "We're hearing that the DFM has become quite well-known in China," Kushner said. "Dr. Du has introduced us to top health policy makers, which is very significant in the world's largest country."