Opportunities in Global Health Education: A Survey of the Virtual Landscape

Abstract

Background A new generation of medical students is seeking residency programs offering global health education (GHE), and there is growing awareness of the benefits this training provides. However, basic factors that have an impact on its implementation and its effect on the residency match are insufficiently understood. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent of online information on GHE available to potential US pediatric residency program applicants. Methods Pediatric residency programs' websites were systematically examined in 2007, 2008, and 2009 to extract available information on GHE. Results In 2007, 147 websites (76.2%) had no information available on GHE; 40 (20.7%) mentioned international opportunities; and 6 (3.1%) provided evidence of a global health track or program. In 2008, 123 websites (63.1%) had no information available on GHE; 57 (29.2%) mentioned international opportunities; and 15 (7.7%) had a formal program. In 2009, 105 websites (53.6%) had no information available on GHE; 70 (35.7%) mentioned international opportunities; and 21 (10.7%) had a formal program. Between 2007 and 2009, the percentage of pediatric residency programs with information on GHE available nearly doubled from 23.8% to 46.4%. Within the same period, the number of formal GHE programs offered more than tripled. Conclusions By the 2009–2010 academic year, the websites for nearly half of the residency programs mentioned international experiences, yet only a small number of these residencies appeared to have developed a formal GHE program. Further, the websites for many residency programs did not include information on the international opportunities they offered, with programs running the risk of failing to attract and ultimately match global health–minded applicants.

Impact of Global Health Education on Pediatric Residency Applicants' Rank-List and Decision Process

“…This finding is consistent with a number of studies from other subspecialties (Bazemore et al, 2007;Dey et al, 2002;MonroeWise et al, 2014;Shull et al, 2014), however, to our knowledge, this is the first report from a large pediatric residency program. To keep pace with this interest among residents, pediatric residency programs have increasingly tried to develop, offer, and publicized their GHE activities (Castillo, Castillo, & Dewitt, 2011). In the academic year 2013-14, 64% of pediatric residency programs reported offering domestic or international GHE opportunities and about 25% had a dedicated GHE track (Butteris et al, 2015).…”

“…Yet, the development of such educational experiences is not without challenges. Perceived barriers to pursuing GHE as reported by previous surveys of program directors include: difficulty securing funding, lack of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) approval for the electives, inadequate staffing for adequate coverage of the home institution, concern about the development and sustainability of partnerships between home and 'away' institutions, and lack of pre-travel orientation and/or post-travel debriefing (Bussell, Kihlberg, Foderingham, Dunlap, & Aliyu, 2015;Butteris et al, 2015;Castillo et al, 2011;Coombs, Feldman, Lauer, Paul Chan, & Sun, 2015;Knudson, Tarpley, & Numann, 2015;Tsai et al, 2014;Tupesis et al, 2012).…”

The Resident Decision-Making Process in Global Health Education

“…32 Even though our Global Health Scholars Program, 20 the forerunner to the current track, was only first made known to visiting residency applicants in 2007, this relative higher rate of medical school participation among our current residents may attest to the appeal GH training potentially had during the applicants' residency program selection. 2,33 In fact, past international experience was the greatest predictor of interest. This was further significantly associated with a key difference between those with experience and those without (Table 3).…”

Opportunities and barriers in global women's health training during obstetrics and gynecology residencies in the USA

“…However, although there are many reports on global health opportunities available during US residencies in primary care, general surgery, and even surgical subspecialties [3,4,[8][9][10][12][13][14], little information is available to those training in obstetrics and gynecology residency programs in the USA. This disparity is important in view of the global burden of disease encountered by women worldwide, largely due to high maternal morbidity and mortality in low-resource countries.…”