Using Reflective Writing to Explore Resident Resilience during Global Health Electives

Author(s):  
Amy R. L. Rule ◽  
Stephen Warrick ◽  
David W. Rule ◽  
Sabrina M. Butteris ◽  
Sarah A. Webber ◽  
...  

Pediatric residents participating in global health electives (GHEs) report an improved knowledge of medicine and health disparities. However, GHEs may pose challenges that include cost, personal safety, or individual mental health issues. The objective of this study was to describe the use of guided reflections to understand resident resilience during GHEs. Forty-five residents enrolled in two pediatric training programs were asked to respond in writing to weekly prompts during a GHE and to complete a post-trip essay. Analysis of the reflections and essays, including an inductive thematic analysis, was completed. Two coders performed a second analysis to support classification of themes within the Flinders Student Resilience (FSR) framework. Four themes emerged from the initial analysis: 1) benefits, 2) stresses and challenges, 3) career development, and 4) high-value care. Analysis using the FSR framework revealed the following themes: acknowledgment of personal limitations, importance of relationships in coping throughout the GHE, and discernment of career focus. Reflective writing provided insight into how residents mitigate GHE challenges and develop resilience. Despite statements of initial distress, residents focused on their personal benefits and growth during the GHE. The FSR framework revealed the residents’ robust self-awareness of limitations and that strong relationships on the ground and at home were associated with perceived benefits and growth. Programs should consider helping residents to identify healthy coping practices that can promote personal resilience during GHEs as part of pre-departure preparation and debriefing, as well as providing for supportive communities during the GHE.

Author(s):  
Jeremy Youde

China possesses the world’s largest economy, but that economic clout has not necessarily translated into taking leading roles within existing global health governance institutions and processes. It is a country that both contributes to and receives financial assistance from global health institutions. It has incorporated health into some of its foreign policy activities, but it has largely avoided proactively engaging with the values and norms embodied within the global health governance system. This ambivalent relationship reflects larger questions about how and whether China fits within international society and what its engagement or lack thereof might portend for international society’s future. This chapter examines China’s place within global health governance by examining its interactions with international society on global health issues, its use of health as a foreign policy tool, and its relationships with global health governance organizations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. e41-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lojan Sivakumaran ◽  
Tasha Ayinde ◽  
Fadi Hamadini ◽  
Sarkis Meterissian ◽  
Tarek Razek ◽  
...  

Background: Global health electives offer medical trainees the opportunity to broaden their clinical horizons. Canadian universities have been encouraged by regulatory bodies to offer institutional support to medical students going abroad; however, the extent to which such support is available to residents has not been extensively studied.Methods: We conducted a survey study of Canadian universities examining the institutional support available to post-graduate medical trainees before, during, and after global health electives.Results: Responses were received from 8 of 17 (47%) Canadian institutions. Results show that trainees are being sent to diverse locations around the world with more support than recommended by post-graduate regulatory bodies. However, we found that the content of the support infrastructure varies amongst universities and that certain components—pre-departure training, best practices, risk management, and post-return debriefing—could be more thoroughly addressed.Conclusion: Canadian universities are encouraged to continue to send their trainees on global health electives. To address the gaps in infrastructure reported in this study, the authors suggest the development of comprehensive standardized guidelines by post-graduate regulatory/advocacy bodies to better ensure patient and participant safety. We also encourage the centralization of infrastructure management to the universities’ global health departments to aid in resource management.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir H. Sadeghi ◽  
Charlotte Koldeweij ◽  
Grissel Trujillo-de Santiago ◽  
Milad Tannazi ◽  
Nikkie Hosseinnia ◽  
...  

For-profit biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies have played an essential role in the research and development (R&D) of innovative medical products and drugs for many decades and embody a trillion-dollar industry. The past decades have been marked by an increase in growth of social non-profit biotechnology companies and organizations led by entrepreneurs committed to solve (global) health issues. In this review, we define the concept of social bioentrepreneurship and consider the potential impact of such ventures on global health. We analyse the current status of non-profit biotechnology and clarify the strategy, motivation, funding, and marketing techniques of these enterprises. We find that these non-profit ventures mainly focus on neglected and rare diseases by using different but also similar funding, marketing, and business strategy approaches to for-profit biotechnology enterprises. We also identify good leadership, multidisciplinary teams, and public awareness as key components to achieve long-term survival and higher success rates. Challenges faced by bioentrepreneurs include the lack of a clearly defined regulatory environment or governmental incentives to support their endeavors. Overall, with this qualitative data review and market analysis we draw a promising picture of social non-profit bioentrepreneurship and underscore its current and future impact on global health issues.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Goller ◽  
Alexandra Miller ◽  
Molly Moore ◽  
Anne Dougherty

Author(s):  
Stephanie L. Smith ◽  
Jeremy Shiffman

This chapter examines the politics of global health agenda setting, the process by which global health issues come to receive attention from actors that control or influence the allocation of financial, technical, human, and other kinds of resources. It suggests that the global health agenda is shaped by the capabilities of actors, including policy entrepreneurs, high-level champions, and networks; ideas, especially those surrounding problem definition, solutions, and causal stories; powerful interests, such as the economic and security concerns of wealthy countries and industries; and institutions, such as international law and trade regimes. Most studies of global health agenda setting are of a single case, and many are descriptive. To build the field, future research should supplement these studies with comparative, theoretically grounded inquiry.


Author(s):  
João Nunes

This chapter argues that Critical Security Studies (CSS), a diverse range of approaches that have questioned traditional ways of conceiving security, can provide a useful set of tools for understanding global health. CSS enables rich analyses of how health problems emerge as matters of security and allows one to discern the underlying conditions that make this possible, as well as the effects of framing diseases as threats. It also shows how health security can be conceived as a layered phenomenon, encompassing not just state and regional stability but also the everyday lives of individuals and groups. The chapter contextualizes and lays out the core tenets of CSS, then shows how some of the core concepts in the CSS literature can be applied to analysis of health issues. Finally, the chapter demonstrates how CSS can function as a privileged entry point into the political dimensions of the current global health regime.


2017 ◽  
pp. 210-229
Author(s):  
Jahangir Moini ◽  
Morvarid Moini
Keyword(s):  

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