In this Human Factors in Medicine podcast, Abhi Pal speaks with Khairil Musa about the realities of working in Humanitarian Medicine and on the field, the invaluable life lessons he gained from his experience, and ways in which we can deal with trauma and burnout.
Summary Writer: Jenny Wei
Script Writer: Abhi Pal
Editor: Abhi Pal
Interviewee: Khairil Musa
Interviewer: Abhi Pal
Khairil Musa is a Senior Intensive Care Registrar from Royal North Shore Hospital and an ICU Field Doctor with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Khairil was deployed to Yemen and Iraq in 2020 as part of MSF’s COVID19 response and also worked in MSF’s Trauma Hospital in Aden. In his downtime Khairil is a great enthusiast of the performing arts and is the Creative Lead for the SMACC/CODA Conference opening ceremonies.
Abhi Pal is a Medical Oncology Staff Specialist at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia. In his non-existent spare time he is completing a part time PhD through Sydney University in informed consent and clinical ethics during communication with patients with advanced cancer. He has a strong interest in drug development, clinical trials, communication and also in hospital culture, burnout and doctor welfare.
With Dr Khairil Musa, Sydney-based Senior Intensive Care Registrar. He is interviewed by Dr. Abhi Pal, a Medical Oncologist working in Sydney, Australia
Introduction
As doctors, we have a responsibility and duty of care to the broader community around us, including those who live in less fortunate circumstances than ourselves. Humanitarian medicine aims to provide support to those most in need, and in this podcast Dr Khairil Musa shares his experience of this branch of medicine through working with Médecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) in 2020. He speaks about the realities of working on the field, the invaluable life lessons he gained from his experience, and ways in which we can deal with trauma and burnout.
Khairil Musa officially joined MSF in late 2019. His first field deployment was to Yemen in early May 2020 along with 10 other volunteers from around the world. Here, he spent 3 months working on 2 missions – the first, setting up the first COVID-19 treatment centre in the whole of South Yemen; and the second, working in a trauma hospital in Yemen. Between August and November he then spent some time off with his family, and then commenced his second 2-month deployment to Iraq in November during which he supported a Ministry of Health hospital in Baghdad and then helped to open an MSF ward as part of COVID-19 response.
Where the light enters: Reflections on the fight against COVID-19 in war-torn Yemen, by Dr Khairil Musa (15 September 2021).
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