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TRAINING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
Author(s) -
Hill Andrew G.,
Woodfield John C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1046/j.1445-1433.2003.02716.x
Subject(s) - medicine , workload , staffing , audit , training (meteorology) , work (physics) , south east , medical education , nursing , management , mechanical engineering , physics , meteorology , engineering , economics , ancient history , history
Background: Developments in surgical training in Australasia allow for individualization of training to suit individual requirements. One uncommon career track is medical aid or missionary surgery in the developing world. It is difficult to receive appropriate training for this type of surgical practice in Australasia. The present paper describes a novel approach to preparing for this kind of work by spending a 6 month rotation in a mission hospital in rural East Africa. Methods: The surgical trainee spent 5 months working at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya. This is a large mission hospital with a busy general surgical workload and adequate staffing for training. Results: The trainee performed 214 major cases, in a broad range of general surgery, under appropriate supervision. He also took part in regular educational sessions, surgical audit, and helped to develop one of East Africa's pioneering laparoscopic surgical programmes. Conclusions: The present paper demonstrates that it is possible for Australasian trainees to gain useful experience in the rural African environment, in hospitals where appropriate surgical supervision is available.