Rozier Michael D, Lasker Judith N, Compton Bruce
a Department of Health Management and Policy , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
b Department of Sociology and Anthropology , Lehigh University , Bethlehem , PA , USA.
Glob Health Action. 2017;10(1):1267957. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2017.1267957.
Short-term medical missions (STMMs) are quite common and largely understood to be a response to health needs in low-income countries. Yet most information about STMM practices is anecdotal. Even less is known about the preferences of in-country host communities regarding STMMs.
We aimed to gather enough quantitative and qualitative information from both STMM organizers and host community staff to compare dominant practices of organizers as well as preferences of host community staff. We use these data to discover differences between practices and preferences and suggest ways in which STMMs can be more responsive to the communities they serve.
Researchers gathered online survey responses from 334 STMM organizers and conducted interviews to determine existing practices. Similar methods were used to collect 49 online survey responses from, and conduct 75 interviews with, host community staff.
Organizer practices and host community staff preferences are different in several areas. Organizers admit to minimal screening and preparation of volunteers whereas host staff have clear ideas of topics that should be covered in preparation, including culture and basic language skills. Organizers prioritize provision of clinical care during trips whereas host staff prioritize capacity building. Practices and preferences also differ in relation to the length of STMMs, the nature of the partnership itself, and the type of assessment and evaluation that is needed.
The large amount of data gathered for this study allows us to confidently say that organizer practices are often not aligned with host community staff preferences. Several concrete changes can be made to STMMs to bring practices more in line with the desires of the communities they serve.
短期医疗任务（STMMs）相当普遍，人们普遍认为这是对低收入国家卫生需求的一种回应。然而，关于短期医疗任务实践的大多数信息都是传闻。对于国内接待社区对短期医疗任务的偏好，了解得更少。
我们旨在从短期医疗任务组织者和接待社区工作人员那里收集足够的定量和定性信息，以比较组织者的主要做法以及接待社区工作人员的偏好。我们利用这些数据来发现做法和偏好之间的差异，并提出使短期医疗任务能够更好地响应其所服务社区的方法。
研究人员收集了334名短期医疗任务组织者的在线调查回复，并进行了访谈以确定现有做法。采用类似方法从接待社区工作人员那里收集了49份在线调查回复，并进行了75次访谈。
组织者的做法和接待社区工作人员的偏好在几个方面存在差异。组织者承认对志愿者的筛选和准备工作很少，而接待社区工作人员对于准备工作应涵盖的主题有明确的想法，包括文化和基本语言技能。组织者在短期医疗任务期间优先提供临床护理，而接待社区工作人员则优先考虑能力建设。在短期医疗任务的时长、伙伴关系本身的性质以及所需评估和评价的类型方面，做法和偏好也存在差异。
本研究收集的大量数据使我们能够有信心地说，组织者的做法往往与接待社区工作人员的偏好不一致。可以对短期医疗任务做出一些具体改变，以使做法更符合其所服务社区的期望。
