Academic Pediatric Surgery Capacity Building in Vietnam Through PASS, a Pediatric Acute Surgical Support Course
Bich-Uyen Nguyen1, Aixuan Holterman2, Mark Holterman2
1Department of Pediatric Surgery, Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Insights
A new training course, Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS), enhances healthcare capacity for neonatal and pediatric surgical emergencies in Vietnam. This initiative aims to improve immediate management of life-threatening conditions and road injuries.
Area of Science:
- Global Health
- Surgical Education
- Emergency Medicine
Background:
- Neonatal and pediatric surgical emergencies pose significant global health challenges, particularly in low and low-middle income countries.
- International Pediatric Surgical Aid Collaboration (IPSAC)-Vietnam has partnered with Vietnamese children's hospitals for 12 years to build pediatric surgery capacity.
- Understanding Vietnam's healthcare, medical training, and emergency systems is crucial for developing targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the background of healthcare and training systems in Vietnam relevant to pediatric surgical emergencies.
- To introduce the Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS) course, designed to improve immediate management of critical pediatric surgical conditions.
- To outline the PASS course's approach and its potential for sustainable capacity-building in developing countries.
Main Methods:
- The study describes the healthcare and emergency systems in Vietnam.
- It details the development and methodology of the Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS) course.
- The PASS course utilizes an interprofessional, multidisciplinary, team-training, train-the-trainers, and outcome-based approach.
Main Results:
- The Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS) course was developed to prepare healthcare personnel for immediate management of neonatal/pediatric surgical emergencies and road injuries.
- The PASS course is designed as a horizontal outreach initiative.
- The course emphasizes an interprofessional, multidisciplinary, team-training, train-the-trainers, and outcome-based approach.
Conclusions:
- The Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS) course serves as a tool for sustainable horizontal capacity-building in developing countries.
- Champion leaders in teaching hospitals and medical universities can utilize PASS to strengthen training for pediatric surgical emergencies.
- The initiative advocates for integrating pediatric and pediatric surgical care and adopting a comprehensive approach to emergency care for critically ill children.
Abstract:
Neonatal and pediatric surgical emergencies in Low and Low Middle Income countries remain a significant challenge in combatting the burden and inequities of global health. IPSAC-Vietnam is a small Non-Governmental Organization that has been engaged in a 12-year multi-pronged partnership with several children's hospitals in Vietnam VN to enhance pediatric surgery capacity. We describe the health care, medical training and emergency system in VN as the background for IPSAC activities and development of Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS) course. The course goal is to prepare health care personnel in the immediate management of neonatal/pediatric life-threatening surgical conditions and road injuries at their first point of entry into Vietnam hospitals. PASS is a horizontal outreach initiative that adopts an interprofessional, multidisciplinary, team-training, train-the-trainers, and outcome-based training approach. PASS can be used as a tool for sustainable horizontal capacity-building by champion leaders at the teaching children's hospitals and medical universities in developing countries, to strengthen training for pediatric surgical emergencies, to integrate pediatric and pediatric surgical care and to advocate for a comprehensive approach to emergency care of the critically ill child.
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