Division of Pediatric Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94114, USA.
J Pediatr Surg. 2010 Feb;45(2):303-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2009.10.064.
Pediatric general surgeons volunteering internationally often work independently, some without prior assessment of the needs of those they wish to assist. Consequently, care may be inefficient, duplicated, or misdirected. A study was performed to assess whether a network for pediatric surgery volunteer work exists.
A search of the Internet was performed to determine whether a pediatric surgery network exists. Worldwide pediatric surgery societies were identified and grouped by country according to income. Web sites for medical volunteer organizations were examined for links to a network of pediatric surgery volunteer work.
A search of the Internet revealed no pediatric surgery volunteer network. Ninety-seven pediatric surgery societies were identified. Fifty-one of the organizations were identified as residing in low- and middle-income countries. Searching 50 Web sites for these societies revealed no existing pediatric surgery network. Of 45 Web sites for volunteer medical work, 1 surgery networking Web site was identified. Only 4 pediatric general surgery international volunteer opportunities were cited on that Web site.
This study demonstrated that no pediatric surgery volunteer network exists. By identifying pediatric surgery organizations in low- and middle-income countries, it is speculated that one might link the surgeons in these regions with those wishing to volunteer their services.
国际志愿的儿科普通外科医生通常独立工作，有些人在希望协助的对象的需求方面没有事先评估。因此，护理可能效率低下、重复或方向错误。进行了一项研究，以评估是否存在小儿外科学志愿工作网络。
在互联网上进行搜索，以确定是否存在小儿外科学网络。根据收入对世界范围内的小儿外科学会进行了识别和分组。检查了医疗志愿组织的网站，以查找与小儿外科学志愿工作网络的链接。
互联网搜索未发现小儿外科学志愿网络。确定了 97 个小儿外科学会。其中 51 个组织位于低收入和中等收入国家。搜索这些协会的 50 个网站并未发现现有的小儿外科学网络。在 45 个志愿者医疗工作的网站中，仅确定了 1 个外科手术网络网站。该网站仅引用了 4 个小儿普通外科国际志愿机会。
本研究表明，不存在小儿外科学志愿网络。通过识别中低收入国家的小儿外科学组织，可以推测将这些地区的外科医生与希望自愿提供服务的外科医生联系起来。
