Key Factors for Creating a Residency Track in Global Health

Dr. Bearman Teaching a Medicine Resident in La Hicaca, Honduras

This is a great article forwarded to me by my pediatric colleague Dr. Pat Mason. This is a study by Campagna et al that surveyed global health education directors at 24 pediatric residencies regarding factors deemed essential to creating global health programs; their response rate was 79% (19 programs). The key factors for creating a dedicated global health tract were: having support of key program and department leadership, resident commitment, protected resident elective time, faculty having protected time/ support and having a dedicated program budget; one of the other key elements outlined was having administrative support. The authors conclude that all of these things should be considered when creating a residency-based global health program. This article provides a nice "roadmap" for educators designing global health programs within residencies.