S. R. Aziz1, S. R. Aziz1 1Rutgers School Of Dental Medicine,Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery,NEWARK, NJ, USA
Introduction: International humanitarian experiences during residency can provide an integral teaching and training experience for the surgical resident. Multiple surgical specialities have documented international resident training experiences; however the question persists if these experiences are truly beneficial to resident education through out the spectrum of surgical specialties
Methods: Review of the literature of articles from multiple surgical specialties ( Oral/maxillofacial, Plastic, Otolaryngology, orthopedic, and general surgery) on resident experiences during training, specifically looking at whether these opportunities met the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competancies
Results: Multiple articles were reviewed in the general surgical, orthopedic, plastic, otolaryngology, and oral/maxillofacial literature. All articles included surveys of residents in surgical specialties who participated in international medical missions
Conclusion: Literature review revealed that international medical missions were of value and met Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies as long as the medical mission was well structured, proctored, and routinely re-evaluated. Further resident activites ideally must be supervised in a similar fashion to that in the United States. All articles reviewed emphasised that resident participation not only helped with clinical growth but more importantly helped develop residents' cultural competancy