Development of an International Elective in an Emergency Medicine Residency

There is a continued interest in global emergency medicine (EM) training, research, and clinical program development. There are many opportunities for "voluntourism" in medicine, but many of these experiences do not have standard goals and objectives.

This article describes a rotation for EM residents from the United States to have a structured learning experience focusing on emergency medical settings in the prehospital phase (something often lacking in U.S. programs).

The authors discuss the structure of the training program, including goals, objectives, and core competencies. First-hand accounts of the training experience are also presented.

Global training experiences can have clear benefits. Students go to places to "learn," but can also "teach" at the same time. Setting goals and objectives helps to assure that students are gaining specific core competencies as part of the experience. Other global rotations would benefit from having a defined structure.