Global Surgery
Exposure in Geneva
Marvin Hsiao
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The WHO Trauma Care
Checklist project began in
2009, following the successes of
the Surgical Checklist project in
which the University of Toronto,
led by Bryce Taylor and Richard
Reznick, played an integral role.
The trauma checklist follows the
Advanced Trauma Life Support
structure. It includes items designated
to prevent or to avoid
critical mistakes during initial resuscitation of injured
patients. Similar to the original Surgical Checklist study
design, the Trauma Care Checklist has been piloted in
12 hospitals in diverse settings worldwide, ranging from
St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto to Limbe Regional
Hospital in Cameroon. Preliminary results show significant
improvements in almost all process measures across
diverse practice settings.
As an intern with both surgical and research training,
Marvin Hsiao was well positioned to immerse himself
quickly in the study, which included literature reviews,
qualitative, and quantitative data analyses. Marvin said
he learned the most from seeing first-hand how the
WHO functions and how it conducts research. During
the internship, he participated in noon hour seminars,
had small group meetings with the WHO Director
General Margaret Chan, and attended the 65th World
Health Assembly.
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This internship helped Marvin plan how he would
like to incorporate global surgery work into his career.
While he has no immediate plans to work at the WHO,
he thinks the Department of Surgery at UofT, with
decades of dedication and hard work from the ranks of
Georges Azzie, Mark Bernstein, and Andrew Howard,
can become a global leader in improving surgical care
in low- and middle-income countries. To this end, with
support from Avery Nathens and James Rutka, Marvin
will be compiling a detailed inventory of global surgery
activities within the Department of Surgery. Within the
Department's new 5-year strategic plan "Transforming
Surgery: Beyond the Cutting Edge", the long-term goals
are to (1) develop a concerted University of Toronto strategic
plan in global surgery; (2) create a formal academic
pathway for surgeons with a focus in global surgery; and
(3) improve surgical care in low-resource settings globally
through clinical, research, educational, and advocacy
activities.
Marvin is a General Surgery resident currently completing
his final year of PhD studies in Global Surgery
research (Quantification and Characterization of Road
Traffic Injury Deaths and Surgical Care Access in India)
at the Institute of Medical Science under the supervision
of Avery Nathens and Prabhat Jha. Marvin had a
unique opportunity to contribute to a World Health
Organization (WHO) project to improve trauma care
globally through a recent two-month internship in
Geneva this past spring.
M.M.
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