From the Department of Pathology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania (Goetz).
Nexgen Pathology, San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago (Huggins, Greaves).
Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2021 Aug 1;145(8):1025-1030. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2020-0353-OA.
CONTEXT.—: Most cancers occur in lower and middle income countries, where pathologists are scarce. Despite this, few pathology training programs offer global health electives, and trainees are not exposed to challenges associated with practicing in resource-restricted settings.
OBJECTIVE.—: To implement a global health elective model aimed at exposing trainees to global health while alleviating overburdened pathologists in resource-restricted settings.
DESIGN.—: For 1 year, trainees at 2 US institutions reviewed cases shipped weekly from a pathology lab serving Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Turnaround time, specimen type, and trainee and clinician satisfaction were assessed.
RESULTS.—: Trainees reviewed an average of 16 cases per week. Average turnaround time was 6 days. There was no significant difference between the turnaround time for the US trainees and the pathologist based in the lab in Trinidad. Trainees and clinicians reported a high level of satisfaction, and the collaboration was fruitful, resulting in the publication of a case report.
CONCLUSIONS.—: We demonstrate that collaboration between US trainees and laboratories in resource-restricted settings, in the form of a global health elective, is mutually beneficial.
大多数癌症发生在中低收入国家，而这些国家的病理学家稀缺。尽管如此，很少有病理培训项目提供全球健康选修课程，而且受训者也无法接触到在资源有限的环境中执业所面临的挑战。
实施全球健康选修课程模式，使受训者接触全球健康，并减轻资源有限环境中病理学家的负担。
在一年的时间里，来自美国的 2 所机构的受训者每周对从为特立尼达和多巴哥以及圭亚那提供服务的一个病理实验室寄来的病例进行审查。评估了周转时间、标本类型以及受训者和临床医生的满意度。
受训者平均每周审查 16 个病例。平均周转时间为 6 天。在美国受训者和在特立尼达的实验室工作的病理学家之间的周转时间没有显著差异。受训者和临床医生报告满意度很高，而且合作卓有成效，促成了一份病例报告的发表。
我们证明，美国受训者与资源有限环境中的实验室之间的合作（以全球健康选修课程的形式）是互惠互利的。
