Could global surgery overcome a decline in surgical cases?

Robert B Laverty; Rahul M Jindal

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2022.103704

Could global surgery overcome a decline in surgical cases?

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2022 May 2:78:103704. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2022.103704. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Robert B Laverty¹, Rahul M Jindal²

Affiliations

¹ Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX, USA.
² Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, USA.

Abstract

•There have been three distinct landmarks for the US surgical trainees leading to a decline in surgical volume and in open number of cases.•Global surgery experiences have been adopted to expose trainees to surgical problems not routinely seen in the Global North.•Global Surgery also exposes trainees to empathic and collaborative approaches.•Benefits of global surgery to compensate for the decline in volume, variety and open surgical cases need to be studied through an academic, ethical, and economic lens.•LMICs trainees could travel to HIC for research and clinical training in exchange for the skills and case volume that HIC trainees would obtain in LMICs.

Keywords: ACGME, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; COVID 19; DHR, duty-hour restrictions; Global surgery; HIC, high income countries; LMIC, low and middle income countries; Minimal invasive surgery; Reduction duty hours; Surgical volume.