Megan
I'm writing this as I'm sitting in the airport, waiting on my plane back to Morocco from the first ever InciSioN Global Surgery Symposium (IGSS). The whole experience was a bit overwhelming, and it's difficult to process everything I learned and saw in the past whirlwind 36 hours. This conference was filled with some of the most influential and inspiring physicians I will likely ever have the chance to meet. However, despite the impossible and necessary work that they are doing, I leave a conference like this with the deep feeling of needing to do more. I've wanted to be involved in global surgery nearly my entire life, so it's not that I didn't understand the need before this conference. It's more that the data and pictures presented at this conference make it so much more stark a reality for the need as physicians to treat the world instead of just our neighborhoods. It is no longer just a hope or desire or a pipe dream- it is an absolute necessity. It is painfully clear that there is not a single chance of bringing equality to the world or even the minimum level of health without safe and timely access to quality surgical care
It's rather a strange feeling, as this conference to me seems to present a double-edged sword: I now have more resources than ever to get involved and global surgery at any level of training, and that is a wonderful thing. However, I'm also struck by the realization of how challenging it would be to get involved with any of these things. Especially in America, medical training is condensed and rapid fire. There is little wiggle room, especially for those things that are not seen as completely necessary by educational institutions and boards. That is why it's on us, the young future surgeons and educators in medicine, to insist the that global surgical care be a part of standard medical training, or at least an easily access option by those who so desire.
After seeing all the options out there, all the projects, all the political movement efforts, all the need, I’m struck with a sense of impossibility. How are we as a community of physicians supposed to address the glaring need of global surgery in the context of lack of education, funds, governmental support, infrastructure, supplies, etc. etc. while also maintaining our jobs, ourselves, and our families? How are we as residents supposed to maintain involvement in global surgery and effect real change while still complying with our educational requirements in a setting of minimal flexibility or interest in sending vital medical personnel abroad? How are we, as students, supposed to help in any real way with our exam loads, our inflexible rotation schedules, and our lack of technical skills or qualifications to intervene? At first view, it seems impossible to face these challenges and really make any lasting difference, especially as an individual contributor.
Yet even more striking from this weekend are the various ways I’ve seen people make it work despite these challenges. I was continually impressed at the level of involvement that various physicians had in low-resource settings while maintaining their normal “day jobs” and even professorships. I was astounded at the massive changes and political impact that has been brought about by the collaboration efforts of numerous groups of physicians across the world, sometimes facilitated originally by just one surgeon with a cause. I was excited to learn about all the “scaling up” efforts that are going on to move individual contributions and efforts to a larger stage to make a real lasting impact. And, most of all, I was amazed at the level of student involvement in many of these projects. Reading bios and hearing stories about student involvement, I was convinced that there was no way these peers of mine were doing all these things and still managing to pass their classes. Yet in speaking with them, it became clear that they had not magic bullet, no real secret to their work. It was just that: work. They worked vigorously and consistently in and around their busy schedules because it mattered. They took each day at a time and did what they could with the few hours left to them, and over many years, results came about. They formed teams and relied on each other to bridge the gaps and support one another. And they did this all from various countries around the world, most having never met in person before this weekend. Though I am not new to the idea of global surgery or the desire to incorporate it into my career, I am new in “breaking into” the current global surgery community, and continue to be surprised by the depth and breadth of the involvement and impact of students. And their enthusiasm was infectious.
All of this was to say one simple thing: if you want to be in global surgery, what are you waiting for? You don’t need to be a surgeon to be involved. You don’t need a big name, a funded research program, months or years out of school, or thousands of dollars to travel to get become a part of the team. This is a great time to get involved with global surgery because thanks to the internet, it is finally truly a global effort. Opportunities abound for volunteer projects, rotations abroad, advocacy positions, and research projects that students can get involved with as early as they like. In fact, a repeated theme of this weekend was that students and young practitioners are not only welcome at the table, but are VITAL for the current work and assuring that the movement continues forward at full speed.
So here is my call to action: do something. Join Twitter and learn about all the amazing projects going on around the world without leaving your bed. Join your local global health or GSSA group, or better yet, start one if your institution doesn’t have one. Ask local physicians about their experiences and ideas on the needs in the communities they serve. Reach out to any number of the 100+ organizations that are focusing on global surgery and research. Travel, question, innovate. Just do something. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to get involved after taking that first step. As students, you CAN be involved with global surgery and you CAN make a real, lasting difference.
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