Dataset Information

Brain Gains: a literature review of medical missions to low and middle-income countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Healthcare professionals' participation in short-term medical missions to low and middle income countries (LMIC) to provide healthcare has become common over the past 50?years yet little is known about the quantity and quality of these missions. The aim of this study was to review medical mission publications over 25?years to better understand missions and their potential impact on health systems in LMICs.

Methods

A literature review was conducted by searching Medline for articles published from 1985-2009 about medical missions to LMICs, revealing 2512 publications. Exclusion criteria such as receiving country and mission length were applied, leaving 230 relevant articles. A data extraction sheet was used to collect information, including sending/receiving countries and funding source.

Results

The majority of articles were descriptive and lacked contextual or theoretical analysis. Most missions were short-term (1?day - 1?month). The most common sending countries were the U.S. and Canada. The top destination country was Honduras, while regionally Africa received the highest number of missions. Health care professionals typically responded to presenting health needs, ranging from primary care to surgical relief. Cleft lip/palate surgeries were the next most common type of care provided.

Conclusions

Based on the articles reviewed, there is significant scope for improvement in mission planning, monitoring and evaluation as well as global and/or national policies regarding foreign medical missions. To promote optimum performance by mission staff, training in such areas as cross-cultural communication and contextual realities of mission sites should be provided. With the large number of missions conducted worldwide, efforts to ensure efficacy, harmonisation with existing government programming and transparency are needed.

SUBMITTER: Martiniuk AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3474169 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Brain Gains: a literature review of medical missions to low and middle-income countries.

Martiniuk Alexandra L C AL Manouchehrian Mitra M Negin Joel A JA Zwi Anthony B AB

BMC health services research 20120529

<h4>Background</h4>Healthcare professionals' participation in short-term medical missions to low and middle income countries (LMIC) to provide healthcare has become common over the past 50 years yet little is known about the quantity and quality of these missions. The aim of this study was to review medical mission publications over 25 years to better understand missions and their potential impact on health systems in LMICs.<h4>Methods</h4>A literature review was conducted by searching Medline f ...[more]

PMID: 22643123

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:To systematically review the available literature on physicians' and dentists' experiences influencing job motivation, job satisfaction, burnout, well-being and symptoms of depression as indicators of job morale in low-income and middle-income countries. DESIGN:The review was reported following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for studies evaluating outcomes of interest using qualitative methods. The framework method was used to analyse and integrate review findings. DATA SOURCES:A primary search of electronic databases was performed by using a combination of search terms related to the following areas of interest: 'morale', 'physicians and dentists' and 'low-income and middle-income countries'. A secondary search of the grey literature was conducted in addition to checking the reference list of included studies and review papers. RESULTS:Ten papers representing 10 different studies and involving 581 participants across seven low-income and middle-income countries met the inclusion criteria for the review. However, none of the studies focused on dentists' experiences was included. An analytical framework including four main categories was developed: work environment (physical and social), rewards (financial, non-financial and social respect), work content (workload, nature of work, job security/stability and safety), managerial context (staffing levels, protocols and guidelines consistency and political interference). The job morale of physicians working in low-income and middle-income countries was mainly influenced by negative experiences. Increasing salaries, offering opportunities for career and professional development, improving the physical and social working environment, implementing clear professional guidelines and protocols and tackling healthcare staff shortage may influence physicians' job morale positively. CONCLUSIONS:There were a limited number of studies and a great degree of heterogeneity of evidence. Further research is recommended to assist in scrutinising context-specific issues and ways of addressing them to maximise their utility. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER:CRD42017082579.

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Dataset Information

Brain Gains: a literature review of medical missions to low and middle-income countries.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Brain Gains: a literature review of medical missions to low and middle-income countries.

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