BACKGROUND

1
Continuum of Global Surgical Education for
Womens Health Adrian Balica, MD and Rebecca
Barnett, MD Department of Obstetrics,
Gynecology and Reproductive SciencesRutgers
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ

• PURPOSE
• International education is critical to the
  development of advanced surgical techniques,
  including laparoscopic and minimally invasive
  procedures
• The principal author has established a
  partnership with gynecologic surgeons from
  Romania to advance education in Romania
• These advances in technologic methods are vital
  in the health care field

• DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
• In many countries of the world, surgery is done
  through large incisions since laparoscopic
  equipment is not available
• As medical centers across the globe obtain these
  types of surgical equipment, programs such as the
  one described will be critical to their
  implementation
• It was obvious that the team of surgeons from the
  US and Brazil, who had a great deal of experience
  in using these advanced technologies were able to
  not only share important key points, but also
  answer subtleties that come with surgical
  experience.

• METHODS
• Our group was an international team of
  gynecologic surgeons from both of the US coasts
  and Brazil who traveled to Romania to provide
  education to health care teams there on minimally
  invasive gynecologic techniques
• The team met at two sites Timisoara and Arad
• At each site the teams provided lectures, hand on
  training with simulators and mentorship to
  learners and attendings
• Over 600 attendees benefited from the teaching
  and educational programs provided by this team

• BACKGROUND
• Minimally Invasive Surgery benefits patients and
  contributes substantially to health care savings
• To do this most effectively, it is important that
  this knowledge be shared among the global medical
  community
• One of the global health care missions of this
  educational program involved hands on teaching
  and training in Romania to surgeons and learners
  there as well as identifying problems and
  addressing research questions

• RESULTS
• At both sites, templates of surgical care were
  updated such that more advanced procedures would
  be available to female patients
• Simulation also helped many of the surgeons at
  those sites review or learn proper surgical
  techniques to perform minimally invasive surgery
• The team will continue to provide this type of
  education and support to Romanian physicians and
  the next medical trip will be in 2016

• REFERENCES
• Reznick RK, MacRae H. Teaching Surgical Skills
  Changes in the Wind, N Engl J Med 2006
  3552664-2669December 21, 2006DOI
  10.1056/NEJMra054785
• Einarsson JI, Matteson KA, Schulkin J, Chavan NR,
  Sangi-Haghpeykar H. Minimally Invasive
  HysterectomiesA Survey on Attitudes and Barriers
  among Practicing Gynecologists. J Min Invasive
  Gynecol 201017 (2)167-175