Why do they care? Narratives of physician volunteers on motivations for participation in short‐term medical missions abroad

Abstract

Personality traits may be more influential to participation than demographic, professional, or socioeconomic determinants. Word-of-mouth recruitment appears to underlie the increase in STMM activity, facilitated by information technology. Reported key motivators for physician participation in STMMs tend to parallel schools of thought regarding philanthropy and volunteering and include satisfaction from helping in challenging conditions of limited resources, learning experiences, appreciation from patients, sense of renewal, and the legacy effect of teaching.

“Fit” for service: contrasting physician profiles and motivations for short-term medical missions and Médecins Sans Frontières

“…Lesser participation among those of higher annual incomes may suggest, among other possibilities, that the increasing opportunity cost of income foregone while away may act as a constraint on participation. This interpretation resonates with findings that arose during physician interviews that unveiled a set of personality traits perceived of repeat participants that begins with unselfishness [9]. Flexibility, referring to the ability to perform effectively in labile or technology-limited circumstances, seems a pre-requisite.…”

“…At the same time, it is reasonable to assume that the physicians who participate are not only intelligent and well organized, but insightful, self-reflective, and clever in matching an inclination for humanitarianism to the opportunities that exist for them in the context of the full scope of their lives. The results are viewed by physicians as positive both for the receivers of medical care and for themselves [9,12].…”

“…STMMs are increasing, driven mostly by physician-tophysician interaction, and facilitated in the digital age by the ease of identifying a myriad of opportunities in online searches [7,9]. On average, in the decade 2004 to 2013, as many as 100 K US physicians annually may have performed at least one STMM [7].…”

“…Similarly, the difference in medical philosophy embodied in the two consummate medical degrees available in the United States, MD and DO, did not differentiate participants and non-participants. Half of US physician subjects in the cited narratives identified influences of family or events while growing up as instrumental in pre-disposing them to take part in STMMs, and most of these acknowledged role models in their lives [9].…”

“…STMM narrative subjects rarely saw in their own motivations the projection of nationalistic influence, and gave no inkling that selection of organizations with which to work had any basis in secondary messages, except, at times, evangelical [9]. Mendoza suggests that the lack of access to medical care and the suffering it provokes is grounded in market failure, and therein lies the impetus for STMM activity as a civil society response [21].…”