Healthcare foreign exchange is a two-way street

A growing roster of doctors, nurses, and administrators from children's hospitals in Kansas City and southern China have been making transcontinental trips to experience life and healthcare half a world away. The exchange program started in 2003, after a Guangzhou hospital official approached a researcher at Children's Mercy Hospital with the idea to trade staff. Since then, 16 staff members from Children's Mercy and 13 from Guangzhou have made the trip. The two hospitals initially were interested in the exchange to promote research collaboration, but it evolved into a very broad exchange with clinical care, research and management, said Children's Mercy officials.