The Medical Mirror correspondent met up with Dr. Adeyeye Adebisi, the pioneer of Emergency Medicine Interest Group (EMIG) which has paved the way for other Interest Groups (IGs) in Nigeria. Below are excerpts from the chit-chat session we had with her.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the origin of Interest groups which you pioneered about a year ago?
My name is Adebisi Adeyeye, I recently completed medical school at College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL). Currently the president of EMIG Nigerian chapter and the vice president/Cofounder African Federation for Emergency Medicine medical student’s council. Also, EMIGs didn’t originate from Nigeria, they have been existing in other countries, especially in developed countries who already had residency programmes in Emergency Medicine (EM). For example in the United States, United Kingdom. Those countries have IGs for EM and other specialties in most of their medical schools.
Q: What started the IG knowing you were still a student, what was your inspiration?
Sure, I can tell the story, when I got into medical school, I didn’t know anything like IGs or EM existed. Initially, I found out what I loved was to tend and care for people in accidents but never really got a hang of it until I got into Accident and Emergency (A&E) for my rotation and it tripped me. So I started researching on how to train in the field, since it wasn’t available in my home school or home country. The COVID break was albeit helpful in starting off, because I had a lot of time on my hands and researched more. Then I started looking for like minded people; that we could come together, share resources, information, conferences and reach out to other people who had an interest in EM or wanted to do EM… and this was the idea and how it started in Nigeria. Shortly after, I called up 2 of my friends (Drs SimileOluwa Onabanjo and Faith Ibu), whom I had heard mentioned EM in the past and that was how we got the ball rolling. Officially, EMIG started last year, 2020 during the COVID lockdown.
Q: Wow, that was insightful. Being in a student community where they already had “study groups”, What would you say is the difference between interest groups, study groups and more recently, enthusiast groups?
So, first thing first, an Interest group is not a study group. We do not do any major academic stuff like reading off a particular material. Enthusiast group is a nomenclature for Interest group, they are similar with just different names. Study groups on the other hand are created to pass exams, or graduate from a course at a stipulated time. The aim of study groups is to study to pass an exam which is the endpoint. For IG, the goal is barely theoretical knowledge. It’s more of exploring the possibilities of a specialty, career options in the specialty and how to achieve them. For instance, the driving force for us came from the results of a study my friends and I did across 6 schools in the 6 geopolitical zone, and we found out that many Nigerian students had not heard or didn’t know that Emergency Medicine was a specialty they could do residency in. So, we wanted to intervene and prove that EM as a specialty does exist and it’s an option you can pursue.
More often than none, when you hear of EM, all you can think about is, oh! I can work in A&E but in reality, that is just one in a million things you can do as an Emergency Medicine physician.
Q: Hmmmm… so what are these other options for a EM specialist aside working in Accidents and Emergency?
Some of the many options you have in EM include EMS which is the transportation arm of Emergency Medicine. An example is Dr Ola Orekunrin of Flying Doctors, who is into transporting medical services and patients from one place to another. There is also Event medicine, this are emergency services needed for people at massive events e.g. if we are to host FIFA in Nigeria, we would need a huge and functional team of EM physicians to be available in the premises all through the event in cases of any casualty or emergency, because anything can happen at any time. Also Disaster medicine, they attend to people in disasters (natural or artificial). This could also be likened to the War or Combat Medicine, where they go with military to war to attend to wounded soldiers and the likes. Extreme medicine also exist. These are the ones that take care of emergency cases in the extremes of weather, location and so on .e.g. EM physicians in the north pole where NASA is stationed or those who fly with astronauts to the space or at the top of the mountain with high altitude for emergency occurrence. Then, Cruise medicine for those who go as crew underwater or to dive. So, there are a lot of sub specialties in EM, this is just to mention a few. Although, they are relatively new but they exist and I’ve been opportune to meet some of these practicing specialists virtually.
“Anywhere you could have an emergency, there should be emergency physicians available.”
Q: How was medical school like? Can you share one of the most memorable experience you had while in school that was life changing?
Medical school was an experience, something I’m very grateful for. I would say It had it’s very good days and some other days that were really challenging but thank God we pulled through. I’ve had quite a few memorable experiences in my medical school journey beginning from 100 level. It has been a rollercoaster and I went through different phases to be who I finally am today. One very memorable event that actually changed my life would be something that happened to me in final year, that I would say tipped the boat in favour of everything that I am now doing and things that I have been able to achieve in EM today. So, sometime in March 2020 just before the pandemic; everybody was going about their business, not knowing anything was about to happen. Although there were rumors about an infection in China but it was nothing serious and nobody was talking about it – It was all just in China. I was going to class that morning and as I was walking past somewhere called “Surgical skill Centre” in LUTH on my way to the surgery department; I saw a poster for an EM training sponsored by the World Health Organisation. I was captivated, thinking out loud that, “so something like this is happening in this school and I didn’t know, wow! Thank God”. I checked the date and it was happening the next day. I was like “wow! but I have lectures, I have postings to attend…”. So, I went back, thought about it and decided I was going for the training. Really, because I’ve been to lectures every day of my life for how many years now; I’m going to take a chance and go for this training. That day was a Monday and the training was supposed to be for 4days, till the end of the week. So, against all odds, I decided to go for that training. By the next day when the training was about to start – which was a Tuesday – a strike started and all our lectures were all actually called off. So, it was like everything was preplanned, falling into place for me to be able to attend this training and it was life changing. There, I met my mentor of today, an Emergency Physician from the United States and his team of friends that had also come with him. All of them EM physicians from Harvard, John Hopkins and the likes, and they were really amazing people. Some of them were Nigerians and some, non-Nigerians. The experience was changing! I got trained, I got to network with people, they listened to me, they talked to me, I asked a lot of questions, got a lot of insight about EM and that was when I finally said Yes! This is what I’m going to do and I’m certain that this is the path that I’m going to work. As soon as the Corona virus hit Nigeria in that same March, I think a week after attending that training, we were all sent home. So it was just; I went for this training that week, a strike started so I could attend the program everyday and at the end of the program, by the following week Corona had hit Nigeria and they sent everybody home. I went home with that fire, that energy, and that was how I was able to work on things, start EMIG and the rollercoaster of events started up until where we are today. That was my most memorable.
Q: Nice… which was the first interest group you started with, how many are available now and what locations do they cover?
To the best of my knowledge, the EMIG was the first IG group in Nigeria. Although, there have been other groups that come together to discuss specialty related stuff but for IG strictly, I never heard of any before EMIG. Likewise, there are a lot now, about 6 of them already. There is the Internal Medicine IG, Oncology IG, Obgyn IG, Surgery IG and Psychiatry Enthusiast Group (PENG) Currently, and are opened to students across the nation and internationally.
Q: I’m sure you didn’t see it expand so fast when you initially started, what would you say is contributory or pertinent to the success and exponential growth of the interest groups?
First was that I or rather, we had a good support. Initially, we planned to be in operation for just 6 – 12 month because we thought what information would we want to share with them that we wouldn’t have shared within that space of time, but we kept evolving and saw how there could be continuity. We met with people and our scope broadened. Also, the members and other founders of the IGs were so ready. A lot may not have known that they needed an IG but it was a timely intervention; because when we started there was a positive turn up and feedback from people saying that was what they just needed – to get out of the frustrated, almost giving up and stuck state they had been career wise. Also, we had a lot of group uptake, in such a short while after the EMIG started. Speaking with other IGs members and founders about it, many of them actually had the idea for a while already – probably had the idea way longer than I did – but hadn’t started. Although, I just had the idea for about 3 months, went straight ahead to start and it was running within a short space of time. However, I read extensively, researched widely, even about IGs history, how they started, have transformed, their constitutions, bylaws and even registered with the Emergency Medicine Resident’s Association (EMRA) Medical Students Council, USA as an international member group that oversee EMIGs in the USA . They were the ones that put us through the processes, and helped us fine tune a lot of our basic ideas into what it is today.
Q: You’ve been running EMIG for a year, what can you say about EM Care and practice in Nigeria?
EM in Nigeria is at the verge of birthing something new. This is because EM residency would be starting in Nigeria (in the University of Ibadan) by the end of the year (initiated by people that have worked long in this even before we came into the picture). This is a huge advancement for EM in Nigeria. As there are different aspect to EM; the planning, transporting, and actual care in the hospital, with a rinse and repeat cycle. So, it’s a full system almost fully absent in other states except in Lagos only, that has an edge of the availability of some of the parts, like ambulance services and rapid response. Hence, now that Nigeria would be training their own emergency physicians, there should be more expansion and attention to the need of every aspect in the EM system to thrive, especially in those locations where they are fully rudimentary, and a lot of work needs to be done.
Q: What are your recommendations to medical students just veering into career options or even medical doctor who have already veered into other fields not knowing that the EM or specialty of their interest actually exist?
My advice to MS is to explore! I’m a big believer in exploration and I do not like to limit myself to the options presented to me or just the ones I can see in front of me, likewise you should not, therefore EXPLORE. Some people could even have interest in things they don’t know yet or are not even available yet, so how would you know or find out if you don’t look beyond what’s within your purview.
So, For year 4 to 6 Medical Students and even House Officers and NYSC doctors, find out! Do not regiment yourself into the traditional 4 departments match of Paediatric, Medicine, Surgery and ObGyn, especially if you are not fitting into them. There are a lot of other specialties or sub specialties asides these. For me, I tried fitting into the traditional classic specialties but it didn’t work. The day I entered into the emergency, I felt like I belonged and this was where I’m meant to function. Also, there are many other options not even available in Nigeria yet. So, Explore, research, find out the option and go for them.
Especially for the Males – I strongly feel I should say this because I share it every time I have the opportunity to – Never feel pressured to go into surgery because you are Male and the society somehow expects you to be a Surgeon. You don’t have to be, if you do not want to be or enjoy being in the theatre for long hours. Males can be Paediatricians too. If its not surgery don’t force it. Find where you really fit, what you really love for do and go for it.
For Doctors who are still at the early stage of their careers, You can make a default If you already veered into other things not knowing your specialty of interest was available. For those that have maybe gone deep or far into their current career pathway but is not what they wanted initially, You can still always find your way back. Might take some extra training, time and dedication but if it’s your passion, it’s worth giving a try.
Any final notes?
Yes pls, this is for people still interested in setting up IGs; don’t be afraid to start or reach out to ask on how to go about it or structure it. Also, we are happy to work with anyone or group(s) on projects, and also welcome members interested in being part of us into our community. You can reach us via email on emig.nigeria@gmail.com, Instagram @emig.ng and LinkedIn on EM Interest Group, Nigeria and we would respond as soon as we can.
About Interviewee:
Dr. Adeyeye Adebisi is the Founder and President of the Emergency Medicine Interest Group. She is also the Vice President of the African Federation of Emergency Medicine (AFEM) Medical Students’ Council. She plans to pursue advanced training in EM, and ultimately bring her training, network, and leadership skills to bear in expanding the pipeline of the emergency medicine workforce in Africa. Adebisi is also a proponent for capacity building and professional development of young medical students and in her spare time, she creates content on Instagram (@anthoniabc) using the power of graphics and storytelling with the aim of helping medical students identify opportunities to grow and develop their careers. Her contact email is adebisi.adeyeye.aa@gmail.com
