Nurse Trains Foreign Physicians

Dr. Lynna Littleton, associate professor in the department of nursing for target populations at The University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston, just got back from Azerbaijan. Quite a stopping-off spot for someone who’d never been out of the United States until three years ago.

Baylor College of Medicine sent out a request for an obstetrics and gynecology nurse to go on a medical mission to Azerbaijan. And Dr. Littleton "just went."

The only thing she knew about the country was that it was a former republic of the USSR and Islamic, and would be culturally strange to her.

"But, I wasn’t afraid of other cultures, and I was with someone who spoke fluent Russian," said Sara Rozin, the project director from Baylor.

Terri Brown, from Texas Children’s Hospital, was also on the team.

"The doctors and nurses in Azerbaijan function like we did in the 1950s – no sophisticated technology – depending more on basic skills. Since the USSR broke up, they haven’t had funds for equipment, renovation or supplies. The lack of resources is a problem," said Dr. Littleton. "This group at Baylor has provided a lot of equipment for them. We took four boxes of equipment, medical books, and a microscope."

The national hospital there has 800 beds with only 123 patients.

"It’s all private pay, there is no health care system, no socialized medicine, so if you have no money you don’t go to the hospital. It gives you a whole new attitude toward our health care system," she said.

Because she is a university faculty member with a Ph.D. and is called "doctor," she didn’t have any problems from the foreign doctors.

"Nurses in that country don’t have sophisticated practices like we do here. In fact, I probably function at the level of their generalist physicians," Dr. Littleton said.

Dr. Littleton taught 100 doctors at three sites (the national and regional hospital and at a refugee camp) how and why to do pap smears, clinical breast exams and fetal monitoring. The camp is home for Azerbaijanis who were displaced during a war with Armenia 10 years ago.

Dr. Littleton said she hopes to do more of this.

"I may need to go back in September to follow up. If I’m asked, I’d love to go."

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