Abstract
BackgroundInterest in short-term global health training and service programs continues to grow, yet they can be associated with a variety of ethical issues for which trainees or others with limited global health experience may not be prepared to address. Therefore, there is a clear need for educational interventions concerning these ethical issues.MethodsWe developed and evaluated an introductory curriculum, “Ethical Challenges in Short-term Global Health Training.” The curriculum was developed through solicitation of actual ethical issues experienced by trainees and program leaders; content drafting; and external content review. It was then evaluated from November 1, 2011, through July 1, 2012, by analyzing web usage data and by conducting user surveys. The survey included basic demographic data; prior experience in global health and global health ethics; and assessment of cases within the curriculum.ResultsThe ten case curriculum is freely available at http://ethicsandglobalhealth.org. An average of 238 unique visitors accessed the site each month (standard deviation, 19). Of users who had been abroad before for global health training or service, only 31% reported prior ethics training related to short-term work. Most users (62%) reported accessing the site via personal referral or their training program; however, a significant number (28%) reported finding the site via web search, and 8% discovered it via web links. Users represented different fields: medicine (46%), public health (15%), and nursing (11%) were most common. All cases in the curriculum were evaluated favorably.ConclusionsThe curriculum is meeting a critical need for an introduction to the ethical issues in short-term global health training. Future work will integrate this curriculum within more comprehensive curricula for global health and evaluate specific knowledge and behavioral effects, including at training sites abroad.
Highlights
IntroductionSurveys of medical students [1,2] and residents in varying specialties [3,4,5,6] demonstrate widespread and increasing interest in global health training electives abroad
Interest in short-term global health training and service programs continues to grow, yet they can be associated with a variety of ethical issues for which trainees or others with limited global health experience may not be prepared to address
The curriculum is meeting a critical need for an introduction to the ethical issues in short-term global health training
Summary
Surveys of medical students [1,2] and residents in varying specialties [3,4,5,6] demonstrate widespread and increasing interest in global health training electives abroad. Ethical issues can arise when trainees engage in research, for example, when dealing with the challenge of obtaining informed consent [20] Broad awareness of these ethical issues began with anecdotes, personal narratives, and case studies of trainees struggling with ethical issues abroad [21,22,23,24,25]. These issues are being examined with systematic qualitative methods involving trainees [26,27,28] and faculty [29]
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