[Global surgery from an otorhinolaryngological perspective]

Since the middle of this century, the United Nations (UN) has paid increasing attention to the surgical care of the worldwide population, with the aim of global access to basic surgical procedures ("global surgery") in the future. The current article describes models for training and continuing education of "global surgeons," with a focus on activities in the field of otolaryngology. The diagnostic inventory in which the global surgeon should be educated is presented. Lists of indications and operative procedures the global surgeon should master are suggested, as are the limits of his/her actions. The surgical instruments required by the global surgeon are summarized in a table, whereby their description is oriented toward the different individual anatomic regions relevant to the otorhinolaryngologist. The paper concludes with an outlook devoted particularly to the idealized vision of availability of global surgery in the future.