Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) hosted the 2nd annual Pacific Partnership Resident and Scholarly Fair Mar. 31. The Scholarly Activity Fair gave participants a chance to discuss lessons learned during Pacific Partnership 2016 (PP16).

In his introduction Capt. Peter Roberts, commanding officer, Medical Treatment Facility, USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), spoke with the audience about their shared accomplishments on PP16. "I just wanted to tell you that thanks in part to all your efforts we declare this mission a huge success, and it was," Roberts said.

During PP16, the team aboard Mercy worked with host nations Timor Leste, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

As part of the global health engagement: PP16 members performed clinical and educational activities; including surgical engagements, aboard Mercy and ashore, community health exchanges at local clinics; community outreach to remote villages and subject matter expert exchanges at local hospitals.

During PP16, participants collaborated with physicians and nurses from host nations and five partner nations including: Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. Additional participants included non-governmental organizations such as Project Hope, Operation Smile and Latter Day Saints Charities.

The mission provided a unique opportunity for NMCSD faculty to deploy with the Mercy and receive valuable clinical experience and education in health care disparities on a global scale, and to participate in initiatives to address those disparities.

"I view the pacific partnerships as great humanitarian missions, but really the reason we can do that is because they help Mercy's readiness," Roberts said. "Nothing prepares Mercy and the entire crew for taking care of combat casualties like doing actual surgeries, something that we always stand ready for."

As part of their PP16 rotation, NMCSD residents worked with their supervising faculty members to take what they learned and write case report's, case series, research projects, quality improvement project or critical reflections. Twenty abstracts, by more than 40 residents and faculty members were submitted for the fair. However, only eight abstracts were selected for podium presentation.

Presentations included global health education, research and quality improvement projects. More than 80 personnel attended the fair, including members of the NMCSD Continuing Medical Education Committee.

NMCSD plans to repeat the Scholarly Activity Fair after each PP mission, extending the beneficial impact from host nation patients, nurses and physicians to the stateside commands and Navy Medicine at large.



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