Enhancing medical students’ education and careers in global surgery

Gosselin-Tardif, Alexandre; Butler‐Laporte, Guillaume; Vassiliou, Melina C.; Khwaja, Kosar; Ntakiyiruta, Georges; Kyamanywa, Patrick; Razek, Tarek; Deckelbaum, Dan

doi:10.1503/cjs.027713

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Students at American and Canadian schools report having limited global surgery opportunities. [20,21] Among the few global surgery opportunities in the global surgery course developed by Lund University, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Zimbabwe. [22] This course is run for five weeks, and it combines theory and practice in a low resource setting.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exploring the knowledge and attitudes of Cameroonian medical students towards global surgery: A web-based survey

Kanmounye¹,

Mbonda

Djiofack³

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction Global surgery is a growing field studying the determinants of safe and affordable surgical care and advocating to gain the global health community's attention. In Cameroon, little is known about the level of knowledge and attitudes of students. Our survey aimed to describe the knowledge and attitudes of Cameroonian medical students towards global surgery. Materials and methods We performed an anonymous online survey of final-year Cameroonian medical students. Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation analysis were used for bivariate analysis, and the alpha value was set at 0.05. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results 204 respondents with a mean age of 24.7 years (±2.0) participated in this study. 58.3% were male, 41.6% had previously heard or read about global surgery, 36.3% had taken part in a global surgery study, and 10.8% had attended a global surgery event. Mercy Ships was well known (46.5%), and most students believed that surgical interventions were more costly than medical treatments (75.0%). The mean score of the global surgery evaluation was 47.4% (±29.6%), and being able to recognize more global surgery organizations was correlated with having assumed multiple roles during global surgery studies (p = 0.008) and identifying more global surgery indicators (p = 0.04). Workforce, infrastructure, and funding were highlighted as the top priorities for the development of global surgery in Cameroon.

show abstract

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students gain valuable skills at global surgery academic events. [21,24] Some global surgery conferences include the COSECSA annual meeting, the Consortium of Universities in Global Health, Bethune round table, InciSioN Global Surgery Symposium, and Global Surgery Student Alliance symposium.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the knowledge and attitudes of Cameroonian medical students towards global surgery: A web-based survey

Kanmounye¹,

Mbonda

Djiofack³

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many reports have shown that collaborative efforts between HIC and LMIC surgical programs have the potential to educate and benefit learners in both settings [ 4 6 7 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ]. There is a growing interest among trainees in HICs for education opportunities in global surgery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, medical students and residents have demonstrated an increasing desire for global surgery experiences and education. With few formalized educational opportunities [ 4 ], students and surgical faculty remain relatively misinformed about global surgical care [ 2 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an Interactive Global Surgery Course for Interdisciplinary Learners

Fitzgerald

Muma

Gallis³

et al. 2021

Annals of Global Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Global surgical care is increasingly recognized in the global health agenda and requires multidisciplinary engagement. Despite high interest among medical students, residents and other learners, many surgical faculty and health experts remain uniformed about global surgical care. Methods:We have operated an interdisciplinary graduate-level course in Global Surgical Care based on didactics and interactive group learning. Students completed a pre-and post-course survey regarding their learning experiences and results were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.Results: Fourteen students completed the pre-course survey, and 11 completed the post-course survey. Eleven students (79%) were enrolled in a Master's degree program in global health, with eight students (57%) planning to attend medical school. The median ranking of surgery on the global health agenda was fifth at the beginning of the course and third at the conclusion (p = 0.11). Non-infectious disease priorities tended to stay the same or increase in rank from pre-to post-course. Infectious disease priorities tended to decrease in rank (HIV/AIDS, p = 0.07; malaria, p = 0.02; neglected infectious disease, p = 0.3). Students reported that their understanding of global health (p = 0.03), global surgery (p = 0.001) and challenges faced by the underserved (p = 0.03) improved during the course. When asked if surgery was an indispensable part of healthcare, before the course 64% of students strongly agreed, while after the course 91% of students strongly agreed (p = 0.3). Students reported that the interactive nature of the course strengthened their skills in collaborative problem-solving. Conclusions:We describe an interdisciplinary global surgery course that integrates didactics with team-based projects. Students appeared to learn core topics and held a different view of global surgery after the course. Similar courses in global surgery can educate clinicians and other stakeholders about strategies for building healthy surgical systems worldwide.

show abstract

“…Conferences and workshops can provide brief, intensive and accessible exposure to global surgery, increasing knowledge and networks. The Bethune Round Table on Global Surgery, held annually in Canada, attracts a large number of trainees from Canada and LMICs, 5 and supports trainee podium presentations and skills workshops. Several departments of surgery offer annual symposia in global surgery for faculty and trainees.…”

Section: Canadian Global Surgery Conferences and Workhopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing academic global surgery: opportunities for Canadian trainees

Vervoort

Dare

2022

cjs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Growing academic global surgery: opportunities for Canadian trainees F ive billion people lack timely access to safe and affordable surgical, obstetric and anesthesia care, resulting in 18 million deaths each year. 1 Growing recognition of the inequity in surgical access and outcomes, and the resulting trainee enthusiasm to address this inequity, has pushed forward institutional responses within Canada and internationally. 2 In Canada, 9 of the 17 departments of surgery maintain an office of global surgery, though only 3 offer formal global surgery curricula, with variable support for global health exposure during residency. 2 There is a clear need to better support Canadian trainees -and trainess from all around the world -who wish to learn about global surgery and to ensure that the educational frameworks, opportunities, practices and values that Canadian institutions promote are well aligned with the field's core tenets. Here, we outline mechanisms by which trainees and postgraduate programs can increase their involvement in global surgery, building on existing academic opportunities in Canada.Confusion over the definition and scope of global surgery may represent a barrier to engagement. 2 Global surgery is sometimes erroneously viewed as the episodic provision of surgical care by high-income country actors in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs). However, global surgery is defined by its commitment to equity and partnership -not geography -as "an area for study, research, practice and advocacy that places priority on improving health outcomes and achieving health equity for all people worldwide who are affected by surgical conditions or have a need for surgical care…and a synthesis of individual clinical care and population-based approaches." 3 Engagement with core components of global surgery is relevant for all surgical trainees. Upon completion of training, Canadian trainees should understand the local, national, and global burden of surgical disease; the inequitable contexts and historical backdrops amidst which patients access surgical care; the unique needs of different communities (e.g., Indigenous, under-represented minority, LGBTQ, refugee, rural, remote); and broader determinants of health. These concepts are highly relevant to the diverse

show abstract

Enhancing medical students’ education and careers in global surgery

Cited by 21 publications

References 5 publications

Exploring the knowledge and attitudes of Cameroonian medical students towards global surgery: A web-based survey

Exploring the knowledge and attitudes of Cameroonian medical students towards global surgery: A web-based survey

Development of an Interactive Global Surgery Course for Interdisciplinary Learners

Growing academic global surgery: opportunities for Canadian trainees

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About