BY JAMIU BUSARI (@JOBUSAR)
Dr. Jeanne Koeijers MD
Internal Medicine and acute care Physician, Intensivist. Clinical Instructor Undergraduate and postgraduate clinical programs, Head of Department, Intensive Care Department, Curacao Medical Center, Willemstad, Curacao. Phone: +59997450000 ext 2650. Jeanne.koeijers@gmail.com
Dr. Jeanne Koeijers is an internal medicine physician specializing in intensive and acute care Medicine. She graduated from Maastricht University medical school in 1997 and began her internal medicine residency training in 2001 at Maxima Medical Center in Eindhoven. In 2004 she moved to Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC), where she would complete her residency followed by her fellowship in intensive care medicine in 2007. Based on her work and accrued experience as an acute care specialist in Curacao (Dutch Caribbean), Jeanne would then obtained her registration in Acute Medicine.
In 2007, Dr Koeijers relocated to her birthplace, the island of Curacao, and set forth in her mission to help develop medical education in the area and to contribute to improving health care delivery to the people of the island. Between 2007 and 2009, she was a co-investigator of the quality assurance initiative for higher education in the Netherlands Antilles (QASNA project), where she was tasked with exploring ways to implement competency-based medical education in the Dutch Caribbean.
From 2009 to 2014, she was a co-director for a highly rated five-day course for family physicians, nurses, and specialists (supported by faculty from the Harvard Medical School (Boston)) to improve first-line care of acutely ill patients. Dr. Koeijers is a member of the educational committee at Curacao Medical Center. She has been the medical head of the ICU at CMC since its opening in 2019.
Teaching the next generation
Dr Koeijers’s activities as a clinician educator involve supervising (Dutch) residents and medical students from Dutch-affiliated university medical centers who come to Curacao for their clinical (or elective) rotations. Jeanne supervises local specialized nursing students who undergo part of their clinical rotations in the Curacao Medical Center (CMC) and participates in organizing and delivering several educational activities in the hospital (for example, ATLS, ABCDE training, lectures and training for several departments in the hospital.
Teaching is an activity we conduct partly during working hours and partly outside working hours for nurses, interns, and residents (ATLS 2-3 weekends per year, ABCDE training for nurses once every two months, from 2021-2023). Education for nurses is provided on request and in the department whenever needed.
Jeanne said it is always lovely to see how eager people are to learn and how they absorb the information offered during the learning process. For that reason, it is crucial that I provide information that learners can use in their practice as nurses, young doctors, and colleagues. “I am aware that education can improve care for our population and beyond. The more you know, the better you are capable of helping the ones in need,” she concludes.
Dividing her time
Considering her responsibilities as a clinician educator, we asked Dr Koeijers how she spreads her time across all of her clinical and teaching activities. She responded that 100% of her time is dedicated to Clinical practice, administrative tasks, and the guidance of nurses, residents, medical students, and administration. “My responsibilities are interwoven, and setting aside dedicated time for each is challenging. I spend about 80% of my time in clinical practice, supervising the nurses, residents, and medical students, 10% in administrative work, and another 10% in my individual research and scholarly work.”
We asked Jeanne how she enjoys the diversity of her academic portfolio, and she responded saying “I am grateful that I am granted the possibility to help others with my skills. I love what I am able to do for others and accept the privileged position I am in.” She explains, “I consider my role an enormous privilege. Being able to comfort the families of sick patients and help them navigate the healthcare system as a health advocate is one example. As a clinician, setting up a central venous catheter in an ill patient for intravenous medications is another example. Finally, teaching learners the respiratory pathophysiology of illnesses like COVID in my role as an educator offers me the chance to be an effective clinician educator, help the population of Curacao, and support my colleagues and hospital organization”.
When asked about the challenges she faces with the diversity in her work, Dr Koeijers said that the lack of a sufficient workforce is a significant driver. Not having enough colleagues in the team makes it difficult to perform my work the way I would want. I enjoy the diversity, though, as it makes my job less predictable. I never know how my day will go, so we go with the flow and enjoy it.
Four tips for junior CEs:
- Know why you do the work that you do. Do not do this work for a position or recognition. You will not always be acknowledged or why you (have to) do certain things as a CE; however, not getting it says nothing about you.
- Stay humble throughout your career, and remember that we all will make mistakes, even when we are seniors
- Do your work to the best of your knowledge so you can always say to the family (and yourself) that you did what you could do
- Treat everybody (colleagues, patients, families) equally and fairly, irrespective of who they are or where they come from. Do not judge others, especially your patients, and pass this forward to those you teach
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The University of Ottawa. For more details on our site disclaimers, please see our ‘About’ page