So I Know What I Got . An American Fulbright Lecturer in Albania, 1994-1995 Annals of Internal Medicine . 15 November 1996. William G.M. Hardison, MD Spending 10 months as a Fulbright Lecturer in Medical Sciences at the University Medical Center, University of Tirana, Albania, gave me a first-hand view of academic medicine in a country emerging from more than 45 years of Communist rule that impoverished the country and isolated it from the rest of the world. Even after the fall of Communism, every aspect of medicine in Albania continues to be government controlled.
Early specialization is still the rule for academic physicians.
Division chiefs exert absolute authority over their domain and seldom delegate this authority. Learning and teaching resources are scant, and access to current western medical literature is extremely limited because of both poverty and priority. Despite these obstacles, the medical students and postgraduate trainees I encountered were bright and receptive, which strongly reinforces the tremendous urge to help them. If we are to help, we must take the training to them. Given the time, the effort can be successful.