Watch now: The Global Surgical Training Challenge Documentary!

We are pleased to announce the release of a short documentary featuring the four finalists in the Global Surgical Training Challenge. 

This 11-minute video takes viewers to Guatemala, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Ghana to meet the teams of clinicians and innovators addressing the need for surgical skills training in low and middle income countries. 

It introduces some of the learners who have been building the surgical training simulators and using these online teaching modules to learn skills in laparoscopy, reconstructive surgery, orthopaedics, and pre-hospital trauma care.

From our initial Solveathons in 2020, which drew hundreds of participants from around the world, to these four finalist teams, we have challenged innovators to develop open source training modules that can be implemented in a variety of low resource settings. Our documentary will show you how they have designed their approaches, and the impact they are making in their local communities.

Watch the documentary in full below!

All-Safe

The lack of access to laparoscopic surgery in Ethiopia is not due to scarcity of equipment. In fact, many hospitals have this technology, but it goes unused. 

“There’s a gap between available equipment and the knowledge and skills for surgeons to start using this equipment to take care of patients,” says Dr David Jeffcoach, team co-lead for ALL-SAFE.

Team members from Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Kenya have designed an open-source module in which residents can learn how to perform laparoscopic surgery to treat ectopic pregnancy.

CrashSavers

Guatemala lacks an organised, structured trauma system, and many first responders lack the necessary skills to manage bleeding in trauma victims before they reach the hospital. This is particularly critical in rural areas that lack urban trauma centres equipped to care for these patients.

“First responders and firefighters need to learn advanced tourniquet placement and haemorrhage control techniques,” explains Dr Sabrina Asturias, Chief of Emergency Surgery at Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City and team lead for CrashSavers.

AmoSmile

Sub-Saharan Africa has a lack of surgeons specialised in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The result is that patients with trauma, burns, cancer, and congenital conditions suffer devastating physical and psychosocial consequences. Reconstructive flap surgery can restore form and function in these patients and give them an opportunity to participate more fully in society. In some cases, it can even increase their lifespan.

Tibial Fracture Fixation

Nigeria, a country of over 200 million people, has only 400 orthopaedic surgeons. Patients with broken bones often end up in the hands of unscrupulous or untrained bone setters who use unsafe practices. This can result in gangrene, limb loss, and even death. 

Dr Habila Umaru, an orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at the National Hospital Abuja in Nigeria, is leading a team to train non-orthopaedic specialists in safe fracture fixation. 

“These skills can be used to prevent needless suffering, disability and death for the estimated 133 million patients who sustain extremity and pelvic fractures globally every year,” says Dr Umaru.