Medical Student Knowledge, Perspectives, and Interest in Global Surgery: A Scoping Review

Global surgery is a rapidly growing field focused on addressing health inequities by improving access to surgical care, particularly in underserved regions. Opportunities for medical students to engage with global surgery remain scarce. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore United States of America (U.S.) medical students' knowledge, perspectives, and interest in the field of global surgery.

The scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Searches were conducted in APA PsycINFO, MEDLINE (Ovid), PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. The databases were selected because of subject coverage of health sciences, education, and global health. The search strategies utilized keywords related to global surgery in combination with terms like medical students, knowledge, and perspectives. Studies were included if they focused on U.S. medical students' global surgery knowledge, perspectives, or interest.

Of 481 studies identified, six met inclusion criteria. These studies evaluated global surgery educational initiatives and student perceptions, demonstrating improvements in knowledge, clinical confidence, and understanding of health system barriers following pilot courses. Although students expressed strong interest in global surgery, misconceptions persisted, including underestimation of the global burden of trauma and the cost-effectiveness of surgical care. Exposure to curricular/extracurricular global surgery experiences was consistently associated with more favorable perceptions, and pilot courses received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Significant gaps remain in global surgery education for U.S. medical students despite sustained interest in the field. Expanding access to targeted educational initiatives may improve understanding of global surgery's role in health equity and help develop a more globally engaged surgical workforce.