Teaching the teacher: An ethical model for international surgical missions

Concerns linger about how to provide equitable global health care and how to address the great unmet health care needs in many countries. The burden of outreach mostly falls on universities. Universities and educational institutions by design are capable of defining the necessary directions for change. The challenge for universities participating in global health care and education is creating and sustaining robust health systems tailored to each community by evaluating the existing system and taking note of stakeholders, opinion leaders, and the availability of sustained resources in the milieu of the rapidly changing global health care structures.4 The model described here is rooted in educational theory and based on the belief that sharing surgical knowledge is the most effective way to improve access to necessary care for underserved patient populations. Positive changes can be made by developing relationships among health care personnel and new approaches to educational problems. This positive outcome was largely due to the development of new attitudes by professionals and their approach to education and collaboration. Development of a systemic approach to global health care problems is a daunting task. The solution is neither simple nor easy, and the active participation of the assisted party is highly encouraged. *