Organizing a dermatology service mission

Ramírez-Fort, Marigdalia K.; Lastra-Vicente, Rosana; Levitt, J.; Sánchez, Jorge; Reizner, George T.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2012.05750.x

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Of the 24 articles reviewed, mission trips were reported on 4 different continents. The majority went to Africa (9), [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] North America (8), [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] South America (5), 9,21,[24][25][26] and Asia (5) 9, 27-30 ; 67% of these trips included surgical trainees, 42% were plastic surgery-focused, and 37% were general/orthopedic surgery-focused (Graph 1). No manuscript detailed a mission trip specific to endocrine surgery.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pay It forward: Strategies for Successful Implementation of Short-term Endocrine Surgical Mission

Long

Cohen

Perrier

2016

World Journal of Endocrine Surgery

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Introduction:With increasing interest in humanitarian surgical efforts, numerous opportunities for specialized mission trips have developed. Extreme short-term surgical "blitzes" of specialist teams have offered much-needed surgical care but lack efforts for patient continuity and local sustainability. We sought to define characteristics that aid in the long-term success of short-term international surgical missions to better apply this insight toward future dedicated humanitarian endocrine surgical efforts. Materials and methods:A broad search engine review identified 1,954 reports of medical and surgical missions. One hundred and sixty-six of these abstracts involved surgical missions from 2009 to 2014 with 24 articles including details of specific mission trips. We identified factors deemed essential for improving patient care and affecting local infrastructure for longterm sustainability and included our prospective experience with an endocrine surgery-specific mission trip for comparison. Results:Of the 24 articles reviewed, missions went to Africa (9), North America (8), South America (5), and Asia (5). Factors for mission sustainability and success included the following: (a) ability to educate local physicians and trainees, (b) multiple return trips to the same location, and (c) formal pre-mission planning and site visits. Emerging interest is on optimizing patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness.Conclusion: Short-term surgical missions require a local infrastructure for optimal patient outcomes. Sustainability hinges on education and involvement of local physicians and surgical trainees, pre-mission planning, and return trips to the same location. For endocrine surgical missions, preoperative evaluation and postoperative follow-up by the operating surgeon is important for optimizing performance and outcomes.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pay It forward: Strategies for Successful Implementation of Short-term Endocrine Surgical Mission

Long

Cohen

Perrier

2016

World Journal of Endocrine Surgery

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“…The global health community would be well-served by the development of guidelines for recording humanitarian care, and the establishment of a central repository for such information 47 . According to a survey of humanitarian organizations, many organizations routinely collect such information for internal use 8 ; however, few organizations report these data for the benefit of the global health community 19–33 . Disseminating these metrics to the humanitarian community could reduce the time lag between the planning and the execution of medical missions, minimize waste of resources, maximize the healthcare services provided with limited budgets, and improve the quality of care delivered to the underserved patients of the developing world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the increasing demand for these materials and the decreasing supply resulting from the receding economy have made it more difficult to obtain donated materials. Yet, limited resources exist to advise humanitarian organizations about the minimum necessary supplies required to successfully conduct a surgical mission 21,33,48–50 . In an effort to contribute evidence to this initiative, we conducted an analysis to quantify the material cost-minimization resulting from NPO supply acquisition, and an item utilization analysis to describe the minimum necessary items required to perform hernia repairs and minor procedures at the global standard of care for the underserved patients of the Dominican Republic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Greater than 15% of all nonprofit organizations are involved in healthcare activities 18 . Of the humanitarian organizations that provide surgical care to low and middle-income countries, few of these organizations track and report their data to share valuable information with other medical mission initiatives 19–33 . Measurement and reporting of operational data, including supply acquisition costs, item utilization, and patient outcomes would allow other humanitarian organizations to reliably replicate and improve upon these experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A material cost-minimization analysis for hernia repairs and minor procedures during a surgical mission in the Dominican Republic

et al. 2013

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INTRODUCTION Expenditures on material supplies and medications constitute the greatest per capita costs for surgical missions. We hypothesized that supply acquisition at nonprofit organization (NPO) costs would lead to significant cost-savings compared to supply acquisition at US academic institution costs from the provider perspective for hernia repairs and minor procedures during a surgical mission in the Dominican Republic (DR). METHODS Items acquired for a surgical mission were uniquely QR-coded for accurate consumption accounting. Both NPO and US academic institution unit costs were associated with each item in an electronic inventory system. Medication doses were recorded and QR-codes for consumed items were scanned into a record for each sampled procedure. Mean material costs and cost savings ± SDs were calculated in US dollars for each procedure type. Cost-minimization analyses between the NPO and the US academic institution platforms for each procedure type ensued using a two-tailed Wilcoxon matched-pairs test with α=0.05. Item utilization analyses generated lists of most frequently used materials by procedure type. RESULTS The mean cost savings of supply acquisition at NPO costs for each procedure type were as follows: $482.86 ± $683.79 for unilateral inguinal hernia repair (IHR, n=13); $332.46 ± $184.09 for bilateral inguinal hernia repair (BIHR, n=3); $127.26 ± $13.18 for hydrocelectomy (HC, n=9); $232.92 ± $56.49 for femoral hernia repair (FHR, n=3); $120.90 ± $30.51 for umbilical hernia repair (UHR, n=8); $36.59 ± $17.76 for minor procedures (MP, n=26); and $120.66 ± $14.61 for pediatric inguinal hernia repair (PIHR, n=7). CONCLUSION Supply acquisition at NPO costs leads to significant cost-savings compared to supply acquisition at US academic institution costs from the provider perspective for IHR, HC, UHR, MP, and PIHR during a surgical mission to DR. Item utilization analysis can generate minimum-necessary material lists for each procedure type to reproduce cost-savings for subsequent missions.

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“…[5][6][7] Herein, we describe the preparation for and implementation of a privately organized dermatology mission to the village of Imbert in the Dominican Republic, which may serve as a guide to other dermatologists who wish to organize a similar trip.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%