ABSTRACT
Objective To promote professional training aid on healthcare talents in western China,this paper aims to explore methods and to evaluate the effectiveness of a new training system for underprivileged medical professionals from hospitals of western China.Methods Questionnaires and interviews were conducted to 115 trainees and their employers took part in the Counterpart Support Project.A retrospective analysis was done to evaluate key indicators of the trainees' professional competence.Results More than 90％ of the trainees have seen great improvement on basic healthcare knowledge,clinical skills,and diagnosis and treatment practice.About 80％ the participating hospitals have enjoyed varied degrees of growth in outpatient visits,surgical volume,number of inpatient and operational efficiency.(Increase level from 0％ to 50％) Conclusions Within the frist 3 years of implementation,this new model has been proven effective to enhance participants' overall professional competence,and by tapping into the significant resource of first class hospitals,this model will help greatly promoting the development of healthcare talents in Western China.