Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Building Surgical Capacity in Low-Resource Countries

2013; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 72; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/sap.0b013e31826aefc7

1536-3708

Oluseyi Aliu, Scott Corlew, Michele Heisler, Christopher J. Pannucci, Kevin C. Chung,

Travel-related health issues

Introduction Surgical volunteer organizations (SVOs) focus considerable resources on addressing the backlog of cases in low-resource countries. This model of service may perpetuate dependency. Efforts should focus on models that establish independence in providing surgical care. Independence could be achieved through surgical capacity building. However, there has been scant discussion in literature on SVO involvement in surgical capacity building. Methods Using qualitative methods, we evaluated the perspectives of surgeons with extensive volunteer experience in low-resource countries. We collected data through in-depth interviews that centered on SVOs using task shifting as a tool for surgical capacity building. Results Some of the key themes from our analysis include the ethical ramifications of task shifting, the challenges of addressing technical and clinical education in capacity building for low-resource settings, and the allocation of limited volunteer resources toward surgical capacity building. Conclusion These themes will be the foundation of subsequent studies that will focus on other stakeholders in surgical capacity building including host communities and SVO administrators.