Abstract
Background:Many medical and nursing schools offer opportunities for students to participate in global health experiences abroad, but little is known about the efficacy of pre-departure training in preparing students for these experiences.Objectives:The primary aim was to identify characteristics of pre-departure training associated with participants’ reporting a high level of preparedness for their global health experiences. Secondary objectives included identifying students’ preferred subjects of study and teaching modalities for pre-departure training.Methods:A questionnaire was distributed to all medical and nursing students at our institution from 2013 to 2015. Questions addressed prior global health experiences and pre-departure training, preferences for pre-departure training, and demographic information.Findings:Of 517 respondents, 55% reported having a prior global health experience abroad, 77% of whom felt prepared for their experience. Fifty-three percent received pre-departure training. Simply receiving pre-departure training was not associated with perceived preparedness, but pre-departure training in the following learning domains was: travel safety, personal health, clinical skills, cultural awareness, and leadership. Perceiving pre-departure training as useful was also independently associated with self-reported preparedness. Students’ preferred instruction methods included discussion, lecture, and simulation, and their most desired subjects of study were travel safety (81%), cultural skills (87%), and personal health (82%).Conclusions:Incorporating travel safety, personal health, clinical skills, cultural awareness, and/or leadership into pre-departure training may increase students’ preparedness for global health experiences. Student perceptions of the usefulness of pre-departure training is also associated with self-reported preparedness, suggesting a possible “buy-in” effect.
Highlights
According to a 2013 report, approximately 30% of U.S medical students participated in at least one global health experience abroad (GHEA) prior to graduation [1]
While our findings indicated that many of these learning domains are associated with student preparedness, there were some exceptions: (i) leadership training was linked to perceived preparedness, but only 35% of students requested it; and (ii) the majority of students requested language (77%) and ethics pre-departure training (PDT) (62%), but these domains were not associated with perceived preparedness
Our findings suggest that PDT can provide important preparation for GHEAs, further research is warranted to assess if these domains impact other outcomes such as student learning, burden on international partners, and patient outcomes
Summary
According to a 2013 report, approximately 30% of U.S medical students participated in at least one global health experience abroad (GHEA) prior to graduation [1]. Benefits of these experiences include learning to care for patients with illnesses uncommon in the U.S, building confidence in physical exam skills, and learning to work cross-culturally and with underserved populations [2,3,4]. Receiving pre-departure training was not associated with perceived preparedness, but pre-departure training in the following learning domains was: travel safety, personal health, clinical skills, cultural awareness, and leadership. Student perceptions of the usefulness of pre-departure training is associated with self-reported preparedness, suggesting a possible “buy-in” effect
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