Student interest and knowledge concerning global health electives: a USD Sanford School of Medicine study

Due to society's globalization, medical students increasingly pursue electives in global health. Such international experiences hold several inherent benefits for both the student traveler and the sponsoring institution. In order to enhance global health education at the Sanford School of Medicine (SSOM) of the University of South Dakota (USD), the medical student body was surveyed regarding prior international travel experiences, interest in serving globally, prohibitive factors toward embarking on a global health experience, and objective knowledge concerning medical service in an international context. In total, almost 95 percent of students indicated they were either very interested or somewhat interested in serving internationally during medical school or later during their career. The most prohibitive factors were funding concerns, lack of information and travel preparation demands. The survey responses indicate there is a great interest in the development of a cohesive global health curriculum for the SSOM.