Young Doctors and Nurses 2026 Conference Summary

The 2026 Africa Partners Medical (APM) Young Doctors and Nurses conference was another huge success! This would not have been possible without the amazing generosity of all who support the mission of Africa Partners Medical.

The dates of the conference were March 1st – 3rd at Coconut Grove Beach Hotel in Elmina, Ghana. This was the 8th Partnering for Life training conference (inclusive of the virtual sessions during the pandemic). The purpose of these continuing medical education (CME) conference that target physicians, nurses, and some allied health professionals who are early in their careers is to provide high quality CME that can form the foundation for a long career of service to others and to share the core values of Africa Partners Medical in order to make generational changes. All attendees learn life-saving skills including hands-on training in basic life support (BLS), and newborn resuscitation. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) training has become very popular and a mainstay of our conferences in recent years. Communication skills including shared decision making, doctor/nurse communication, doctor/patient communication, nurse/patient communication, and developing highly effective teams are core topics for the conference and are covered through lecture and breakout workshops. Each conference also has a new theme with guest faculty providing important updates. Some of the most popular sessions this year included a presentation by Oksana Ryabinina PhD on the application of data science to health care quality improvement and Dr. Patience Afulani’s overview of addressing implicit bias’ to improve equity in person-centered care.

This was the largest group of faculty and attendees to date. Thirty-two volunteer faculty members from the U.S., West Africa, and the U.K. collaborated to put on the conference. Included in the faculty were five Young Physicians, some of whom were alumni of previous conferences. Partnerships and long-term relationships are core values, and the mix/make-up of the faculty help reinforce these values with many experienced faculty returning, several first timers, eighteen traveling from the U.S., eleven from Ghana, and a mixture of physician and allied health professionals.

The attendee groups including first time physicians (47), alumni physicians (23), first time nurses (21), alumni nurses (14), first time midwives (4), alumni midwives (2), first time nurse practitioners (2), alumni nurse practitioners (2), and and alumni allied health (1). Our total number of attendees was the largest to date as well (over 120!). These attendees spent time all together during the large group (plenary) sessions each of the first two mornings followed by breakout sessions focusing on the needs of each group. The afternoons and evenings consisted of workshops and hand-on training sessions with the final day culminating in a large-group meeting focusing on lessons learned and commitments to change. The opportunity to interact with others during the mealtimes and the final evening banquet/cultural event is a highlight for both faculty and attendees and this offers time for one-on-one conversations and creating meaningful connections.

A very exciting new addition this year related to the alumni! Prior to the meeting, an alumni leadership team was formed, and they were able to introduce themselves and goals for the newly established APM Young Doctors Conference Alumni organization. There were also four presentations from alumni physicians about projects they have been working on stemming from their inspirations/learnings from previous APM conferences. This new Alumni organization will be instrumental in helping to maintain and further connections as well as advancing initiatives to continue to improve the health and well-being of patients and health care practitioners.

The attendees expressed their sincere gratitude for the generosity of the donors who make this conference possible. Approximately 95% of the costs associated with the conference are covered by donors with only a nominal charge to attendees.

During the lessons learned and commitment to change session, attendees shared key lessons learned and their goals for making changes in their own practices and at their institutions. Some of the most impactful testimonials continue to come from alumni who shared about how their previous experiences have been implemented including opportunities to share with others what they had learned (spreading the reach of the APM conference beyond direct attendees), ways they are treating patients differently (taking more time, using shared decisions making skills, increased empathy for the suffering of others, saving lives through CPR and newborn resuscitation, and engaging in research or quality improvement projects to make impactful changes locally).

After the conference concluded some of the allied health faculty (nursing and physical therapy) traveled to Kumasi for additional training related to nursing care and physical therapy care for oncology patients in the management of lymphedema and other complications furthing the goals of creation of regional centers of excellence.

Our planning group is reviewing the conference feedback from faculty and attendees as we make plans for our next in-person meeting planned for the fall of 2027. Based on the feedback received from attendees it’s clear that there is a high desire for this type of training and we look to continue to grow in the number of attendees that are able to participate while maintaining the opportunity for meaningful and close interactions between faculty and attendees. We also have a YouTube video channel (Africa Partners Medical Training) with some recorded sessions that can be accessed by anyone who is interested.

On behalf of all the faculty and attendees from the 2026 APM Young Doctors and Nurses Conference, we thank you all for partnering with us! Words of thanks from specific attendees and contact names and email addresses will be available (check our website) if you’d like to read more and/or send notes of encouragement to these young and dedicated health professional making a difference in the lives of patients every day and helping to fulfill the mission of APM to prevent needless deaths and suffering.