Surgical residents’ opinions on international surgical residency in Flanders, Belgium

Abstract Background International electives benefit training of medical residents due to exposure to an increased scope of pathologies, improved physical examination skills, communication across cultural boundaries and more efficient resource utilization. Currently there is no mechanism for Belgian surgical residents to participate in international training opportunities and little research has addressed the international mobility of Belgian residents. The goal of this study was to examine the attitudes of Belgian residents towards international training among surgical residents. Methods An anonymous, structured electronic questionnaire was sent to a cohort of Belgian residents, including surgical residents, by e-mail and social media. Results In total, 342 respondents filled out the questionnaire out of a total of 5906 Belgian residents. The results showed that 334 of the residents came from Flanders (10.8%) and 8 came from French-speaking Brussels and Wallonia (0.28%). Surgical specialties represented 46% of respondents and included surgical, obstetric and anaesthesiology residents. The majority (98%) were interested in an international rotation, both in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and in high-income countries. A total of 84% were willing to conduct an international rotation during holidays and 91% would participate even when their international stay would not be recognised as part of their residency training. A minority (38%) had undertaken an international rotation in the past and, of those, 5% went to an LMIC. Conclusion The majority of surgical residents consider an international rotation as educationally beneficial, even though they are rarely undertaken. Our survey shows that in order to facilitate foreign rotations, Flemish universities and governmental institutions will have to alleviate the regulatory, logistical and financial constraints.

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A Low-cost model of breast biopsy for the training of surgical residents during COVID-19 pandemic

Tropical Doctor ◽

10.1177/00494755211050134 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 004947552110501

Author(s):

Sinjan Jana ◽

Sanjay Kumar Yadav ◽

Dhananjaya Sharma ◽

Pawan Agarwal

Keyword(s):

Breast Biopsy ◽

Cost Model ◽

Low Cost ◽

Breast Lump ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Surgical Residents ◽

Surgical Trainees ◽

Cost Simulation ◽

Palpable Breast

We describe a low-cost simulation model for teaching core needle biopsy to surgical trainees in Low- and Middle-income countries (LMICs). Pre-session and post-session surveys showed that correct core sampling (ability to hit the beetroot) after training was 91.4% compared to 75.7% before demonstration and improved adequacy (68.5% before v. 85.7% after). This low-cost model using locally available products is designed to simulate a palpable breast lump and can easily be incorporated into surgical training in LMICs, where a palpable breast lump is the commonest presentation of breast cancer.

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Finding Adequate Information: A Major Challenge for Policy-Makers in the Field of Cancer

Journal of Global Oncology ◽

10.1200/jgo.18.15300 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽

pp. 169s-169s

Author(s):

A. Courtay de Gaulle ◽

P. Bey ◽

A. Carayon ◽

A. Ly ◽

C. Gombe M Balawa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Specific Information ◽

Good Decision ◽

Middle Income ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Cancer Data ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Cancer Breast ◽

French Speaking ◽

Innovative Therapies ◽

Mechanisms Of Development

Background and context: A global cancer epidemic is developing (GLOBOCAN 2012). In the case of low- and-middle-income countries, difficulties are cumulative: inadequate health systems, lack of training for professionals. Drastic decisions have to be taken in a very complex field. Good decision needs good information. What about information dedicated to policy-makers: to decide a question, they need specific information, marked by these features: synthetic, clear, scientifically validated. Actually, this is not easy to find. Moreover policy-makers can't really benefit from: 1. Information for health professionals which is complex and overabundant (the request “cancer” on PubMed “out” nearly 1.5 millions references). 2. Documents or testimonials for patients. Written by scientific societies or patients' associations, they mostly focus on 2 topics “understand your disease” and “how to cope with”. 3. Information from the Web, not always reliable in terms of quality. Strategy/Tactics: While policy advisors and international organizations provide appropriate studies and reports, mostly focused on “what should be done”, we believe that knowledge of basic cancer data are necessary to understand the proposals. We talk about issues like “what is cancer”, “what exactly cover radiotherapy, oncological surgery…”. Regarding French speaking Africa, Alliance Ligues Africaines and Méditérranéennes (ALIAM) and The French League have produced targeted information for decision-makers. The document was presented in Brazzaville in June 2017. Access to this book is free: www.livre-cancer.aliam.org . The editorial method was discussed and we made the choice to write short sheets, to quickly understand the useful definitions and problems. Rather than comprehensiveness, a pedagogical will and a desire for clarity guided the writing. Diagrams and photos had to be abundant to facilitate understanding. Moreover, this format allows a permanent update of the subjects and the introduction of new topics as needed. What was learned: On the basis of this experience, ALIAM and the league are convinced that a pedagogic document with an international vocation would be useful for all policy makers. Proposal for action: UICC would be the perfect organizer of a working group to produce such a document. The goal would be to develop a consensus text which resume essential data on all common themes of cancer. About 25 themes could be identified, e.g., definition and mechanisms of development of cancers, risk factors, screening and early diagnosis, anatomic pathology and telepathology, molecular biology, imaging and interventional radiology, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and innovative therapies, palliative care etc. Moreover, focus on specific location of cancer (breast, cervix, lung…) and pediatric cancers should be developed. Then, it would be easier for any world regions to supplement this validated information with additional specific data describing the local situation. Hierarchizing action priorities would be facilitated.

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Internationalizing Professional Development: Using Educational Data Mining to Analyze Learners’ Performance and Dropouts in a French MOOC

The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning ◽

10.19173/irrodl.v21i4.4787 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 199-221

Author(s):

Rawad Chaker ◽

Rémi Bachelet

Keyword(s):

Data Mining ◽

Geographical Area ◽

Educational Data Mining ◽

Educational Background ◽

European Countries ◽

Professional Status ◽

Middle Income ◽

Learner Performance ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

French Speaking

This paper uses data mining from a French project management MOOC to study learners’ performance (i.e., grades and persistence) based on a series of variables: age, educational background, socio-professional status, geographical area, gender, self- versus mandatory-enrollment, and learning intentions. Unlike most studies in this area, we focus on learners from the French-speaking world: France and French-speaking European countries, the Caribbean, North Africa, and Central and West Africa. Results show that the largest gaps in MOOC achievements occur between 1) learners from partner institutions versus self-enrolled learners 2) learners from European countries versus low- and middle-income countries, and 3) learners who are professionally active versus inactive learners (i.e., with available time). Finally, we used the CHAID data-mining method to analyze the main characteristics and discriminant factors of MOOC learner performance and dropout.

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Meeting Physical Activity Guidelines by Walking in Older Adults From Three Middle-Income Countries: A Cross-Sectional Analysis From the International Mobility in Aging Study

Journal of Aging and Physical Activity ◽

10.1123/japa.2018-0463 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 333-342 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chevelle M.A. Davis ◽

Tetine L. Sentell ◽

Juliana Fernandes de Souza Barbosa ◽

Alban Ylli ◽

Carmen-Lucia Curcio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Older Adults ◽

Ecological Model ◽

Study Data ◽

International Mobility ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Middle Income ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Aging Study

Physical activity (PA) among older adults is understudied in middle-income countries. The authors examined the associations of factors across levels of the social ecological model (individual, interpersonal, organizational, and community) with older adults meeting guidelines of 150 min of moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA per week through walking in three middle-income countries: Albania (n = 387), Colombia (n = 404), and Brazil (n = 402). Using 2012 International Mobility in Aging Study data, multivariate logistic regression models identified the following significant associations with meeting PA guidelines through walking (a) individual level: depression (odds ratio [OR] = 0.62, 95% confidence interval, CI [0.45, 0.86]), being female (OR = 0.74, 95% CI [0.56, 0.998]), and high relative education (OR = 1.79, 95% CI [1.33, 2.41]) and (b) interpersonal level: high life partner (OR = 1.38, 95% CI [1.04, 1.83]) and friend social ties (OR = 1.39, 95% CI [1.05, 1.83]). While individual and interpersonal variables were associated with meeting PA guidelines, community-level social and environmental variables were not.

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