MUSC Global Health Week panel highlights differences in health care delivery across borders

The Medical University of South Carolina attracts talent from all around the world, enriching its faculty, staff, students and trainees. This diverse influx of individuals helps to create a diverse and multicultural community on its campuses across the state.

Attendees of MUSC’s 2024 Global Health Week were able to celebrate this diversity while also gaining insights from individuals who compared health care disparities between their countries of origin and South Carolina, where they currently reside.

The “Differences in Healthcare Delivery Across Borders – Global Perspectives Within the MUSC Community” panel discussion featured the perspectives of three unique individuals who shared personal stories about their upbringings, medical educations and experiences in basic research.

The panel, hosted by the Center for Global Health, on Wednesday, April 10, included Lama Almutairi, a class of 2025 Doctor of Pharmacy candidate; Vincent Brice Owona Ayissi, Ph.D., an MUSC postdoctoral fellow who is supporting efforts of the Kalivas Laboratory in the College of Medicine; and Rami Zebian, M.D., chief medical officer of MUSC Health Florence Medical Center.

Almutairi, a native of Saudi Arabia, long knew that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine. A trained Pharm.D. in Saudi Arabia, Almutairi enrolled in the College of Pharmacy to expand her training and credentials to return, eventually, to serve the patient populations in her home country more effectively.

One of the chief differences she’s noticed between here and Saudi Arabia is the reduced role of a clinical pharmacist in informing patient care.

“At the hospital I came from, the pharmacist verifies the medication, but there isn’t very much input provided like here in the U.S.,” she said. “I feel like the field is still evolving in Saudi Arabia. It’s why there, Saudi Arabia sends a lot of people to the U.S. for training: to learn and be exposed to cutting-edge medicine and then to come back to implement it. I always wanted to become more involved in health care here and then go back to Saudi Arabia to teach the next generation.”

While the differences in education , access to technology and unfamiliar systems can be among the most challenging aspects when adjusting to a new country, Ayissi said one of the biggest adjustments he had to make, after coming to South Carolina from the Central African country of Cameroon, was something as seemingly simple as navigating the dress code and going out to eat.

“In Cameroon, when you go to your job, you go to the office and have to always dress very formal, while here we wear jeans,” he said. “Also, the (culture around) food is different. When you invite someone to a restaurant, you have to pay for everyone in Cameroon. Here, people pay for themselves.”

The stories shared by the panelists signified the range of experiences individuals can have from day to day as they acclimate to their new surroundings.

Zebian, who has worked in Florence for over a decade and just became a U.S. citizen in the past year, originally grew up in a small town in Lebanon. He said basic access to critical medications can be far different from the U.S.

“There are a lot of shortages; people who have cancer – sometimes the chemotherapy is not available for instance,” he said. “There’s also not a lot of primary care. A lot of people go to the pharmacy, and the patient chooses which one to buy, which dose.” Zebian said the laws have changed over time in Lebanon, and now, pharmacists play a more active role in determining care, but the regulations are still vastly different than in the U.S.

But while discussion often focused on the differences between their home countries and the U.S., it was also evident that no matter where you are, there are still many commonalities when providing clinical care to patients.

“One thing that is in common, whether in Lebanon or in the U.S., especially as a physician, is when people come to you for advice, really what they are asking is for you to listen,” Zebian said. “That is what differentiates you and allows you to do a better job and be appreciated by people. And especially when being exposed to different cultures and different environments, the first step is to listen and try to understand the different cultures.”

To view the full panel conversation, please click here.