Medical Missions

International Experience

The department is exploring possibilities for establishing a regular international experience for residents. In 2008, two residents went to Bidada Hospital located at Bidada, Kutch, Gujarat, India and to Kalidas Hospital, Vyara, Gujarat, India, along with one of our faculty members. They worked only with the equipment & drugs available in the local hospitals, thus it was a truly immersive rotation!

Our program would like to continue an international rotation providing care in another country. Our goal is to have one to two residents at a time travel with a US-trained faculty mentor. The residents will work under the supervision the faculty but will also have an opportunity to learn from local anesthesia providers. The residents will also have exposure to different patient populations, different disease states, & very different working conditions.

We hope this will be a valuable experience for the residents as they will be challenged to deliver safe care in an unfamiliar environment with limited equipment, lack of invasive monitoring, and absence of step-down or ICU facilities. Cultural differences & language barriers may limit the preoperative assessment.

The residents will be asked to give a talk and a detailed report of their work & experience after their return.