N. Valencia-Rojas1, H. Chung2, E. B. Rodas1, S. Jayaraman1 1Virginia Commonwealth University,Department Of Surgery,Richmond, VA, USA 2Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine,Department Of Surgery,Baltimore, MD, USA
Introduction:
Academic Global Surgery as a discipline in its own right. Surgical trainees have expressed growing enthusiasm for exposure to the field during their training and beyond. However, there is little published literature on pre-departure curricula in Global Surgery to ensure that trainees are adequately prepared to engage meaningfully and ethically in the global setting. While there are programs available to students interested in Global Health in general, a more specialized focus on Global Surgery relevant for the surgical trainee does not exist. In order to accomplish an academic approach to Global Surgery, it is imperative to establish competency standards, objectives and evaluation methods. To this end, we propose a curriculum-based approach to pre-departure training of residents at various levels.
Methods:
Using the broad competency framework proposed by the Consortium of the Universities for Global Health Education (CUGH) and feedback from surgical faculty from multiple institutions, we assembled objectives targeting surgical trainees and the appropriate content for a pre-departure curriculum. We tabulated the information obtained from our published literature search and pre-departure education efforts at different institutions, and used the information to formulate an online-based curriculum targeting surgical trainees of two levels of experience: basic and advanced. For each objective, relevant curated academic content was developed from scientific articles, seminars, online videos, existing online courses and podcasts episodes.
Results:
We propose two pre-departure curricula, targeting surgical trainees with interest in Global Surgery opportunities at two levels: 1. Basic, or the novice with little or no experience in Global Surgery, and 2. Advanced, or the well-versed trainee with some Global Surgical experience. We developed specific objectives under the broad areas of Global Surgical Epidemiology, Scope of Practice in Global Surgery, and Ethical/Cultural Competency while following the 11 domains of global health competencies as proposed by CUGH. We designed pre- and post-course evaluation that will allow for outcome measurement. The curricula was then turned into an online course module to allow self-paced access for registered users.
Conclusion:
We have designed a pre-departure Global Surgery curriculum targeting surgical trainees with varying degrees of experience in order to address the gaps in preparation that currently exists. By targeting the specific goals of improving knowledge and competencies in the areas of epidemiology, the scope of clinical practice, and ethical and cultural sensitivity, this curriculum will foster positive global surgery experiences and defined learning objectives while minimizing the potential for harm and ethical conflict. Our web-based, self-paced curriculum will be piloted at one of our institutions, targeting surgical trainees entering the Global Surgery Scholar tracks in 2019.