CommentaryCommentary: The role of global surgery electives during residency training: Relevance, realities, and regulations
Section snippets
Benefits to American surgery residency programs
For general surgery training programs to compete effectively in the resident recruitment process, quality international experiences need to be offered because medical students are seeking these opportunities. Program directors not only understand the benefits of these rotations but recognize and support the increased motivation of residents to serve vulnerable communities.4
The experiences gained from these international rotations cannot be duplicated during training in the United States. Many
Challenges
Unfortunately, but predictably, the formation of these global health surgery rotations presents multiple challenges. Elective time is usually available within the general surgery curriculum. Currently, time on international electives can be used from the pool of elective time, generally 1 to 6 months, in years 1 to 4 of a surgery residency. In contrast, the chief resident year must be performed at the primary institution. Which year of the surgery residency is optimal may depend on the clinical
Current supervision format
Global surgery electives may take many different forms. Supervision is anything but uniform. Frequently, the teaching faculty from the home institution travels with residents and supervises them clinically during an organized trip. For example, at Vanderbilt University, an otolaryngology/head and neck surgeon travels yearly to the same location in Kenya with residents whom he supervises personally. Regular visits to the same location allow a support infrastructure to be developed gradually. In
Vanderbilt international surgery
During the last 5 years, the American College of Surgeons, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, and the RRC in surgery have studied the feasibility of an international rotation and discussed guidelines. In April of 2011, the RRC for surgery released guidelines consisting of 14 major requirements for such a rotation (Table I).6 Following these guidelines, the Department of Surgery at Vanderbilt University designed and
AIC Kijabe experience: From the eyes of the AIC Kijabe surgery staff
As part of its goal to provide excellent health care to the poor and vulnerable, the AIC Kijabe Hospital has long realized the importance of training and education of Kenyan physicians to ensure long-term sustainability of its clinical services. The success of this strategy led to the need for the formal transfer of specialist skills to both Kenyan trainees, as well as trainees from other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This mission has allowed the AIC Kijabe Hospital to evolve into a strategic
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