Watson DA, Cooling N, Woolley IJ. Healthy, safe and effective international medical student electives: a systematic review and recommendations for program coordinators.
TROPICAL DISEASES TRAVEL MEDICINE AND VACCINES 2019;
5:4. [PMID:
30988957 PMCID:
PMC6448218 DOI:
10.1186/s40794-019-0081-0]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2018] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Background
Thousands of medical students undertake international medical electives each year. These students face potentially substantial health and safety risks as well as educational and ethical challenges and therefore should undertake their electives within well-structured and coordinated programs.
Methods
We conducted a qualitative systematic review based on a pre-determined protocol. Relevant publications and guidelines relating to international medical electives were identified through a review of the literature using on-line search engines, principally PubMed. We then conducted a systematic qualitative synthesis to extract relevant publications. Finally, the literature was organized according to themes, with the aim of developing a structured set of Recommendations for Implementation for program coordinators.
Results
A wide range of important issues were identified which were categorized into seven themes upon which recommendations were made principally for the benefit of program coordinators: Responsibilities; General policies; Travel advisories; Occupational risk assessment; Funding & finances, Pre-departure training programs; and Post-return debriefing and screening.
Conclusions
Recommendations for program coordinators on the health and safety of medical students while on international medical electives have been sourced from existing guidelines and relevant publications. There was considerable consensus from the literature and as such these synthesised recommendations could form the basis for internationally accepted standards for elective placement program coordinators.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s40794-019-0081-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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