Why U.S.-Trained Surgeons Often Aren't Ready For Humanitarian Work Abroad
A study compares surgeries performed by Doctors Without Borders volunteers in the developing world with those taught to U.S. surgical residents — and finds "a dramatic mismatch."
Many young American surgeons have a strong desire to do humanitarian work overseas. But their good intentions usually don't match up with the skills, such as cesarean section deliveries and fixing broken bones, that they'll need in poor countries.
And that means U.S. general surgeons, eager to do charitable work around the globe, may miss out on chances to help some of the neediest patients in the world.
"I see all these young trainees," says , professor of
