Influences of Global Health Initiatives in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical Residents

Purpose: Over the last decade there is an increased awareness that the need for surgical care in under-resourced countries is contributing to significant health inequities and financial hardship across the globe. Plastic surgery has long been recognized as a surgical discipline that has been successful in deploying resources to help address these inequities but to be sustainable there must be a lasting commitment through teaching and education. The purpose of this study is to answer the question "In plastic and reconstructive surgical residents, how does participation in global health initiatives influence independent clinical practice and their perceptions of global health?" Methods: A survey was administered through Redcap to 59 total eligible current or previous Wake Forest School of Medicine plastic and reconstructive surgical residents. Results: About 33 out of 34 participants have had some kind of global health exposure with the majority being through mission trips, volunteering, and external rotations. There was a 33.3% improvement in awareness of global surgical disease burden (P = .000093 < .05), 23.5% improvement in obligations to create global change (P = .00021 < .05), 26.3% improvement in comfortability with language and cultural barriers (P = .0013 < .05), and 20.9% improvement in doctor-patient relationships with patients of differing backgrounds (P = .0019 < .05) when comparing participant's views prior and after residency training. Overall, participants were inclined to continue with global health initiatives in the future as 75.8% see themselves participating in another global health experience and 90.9% believed participating in global health has an impact on independent clinical practice and professional development post-residency. Conclusions: Global health initiatives within surgical residency curriculums have had tremendous effects on the perceptions of global health amongst plastic and reconstructive surgical residents, which may improve physician shortage and global health needs in the future.