Dataset Information

Leadership development for orthopaedic trauma surgeons in Latin America: opportunities for and barriers to skill acquisition.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

There is growing interest in leadership courses for physicians. Few opportunities are available in global regions with limited resources. This study describes orthopaedic trauma surgeons' desired leadership skill acquisition, opportunities, and barriers to course participation in Latin America.

Methods

Latin American orthopaedic trauma surgeons from the Asociación de Cirujanos Traumatólogos de las Americas (ACTUAR) network were surveyed. This survey solicited and gauged the surgeons' level of interest in leadership topics and their relative importance utilizing a 5-point Likert-scale. Additionally, comparisons were calculated between middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs) to ascertain if needs were different between groups. The survey included demographic information, nationality, level of training, years in practice, leadership position, needs assessment, and perceived barriers for leadership educational opportunities.

Results

One hundred forty-four orthopaedic surgeons completed the survey, representing 18 countries across Latin America; 15 MICs and 3 HICs. Participants had more than 20 years in practice (49%) and held leadership positions (81%) in hospital settings (62%), national orthopaedic societies (45%), and/or clinical settings (40%). Sixty-three percent had never attended a leadership course due to lack of opportunities/invitations (69%), difficulty missing work (24%), and costs (21%). Ninety-seven percent expressed interest in attending a leadership course. No difference in needs was determined between respondents from MICs and HICs. Professional Ethics, Crisis Management/Organizational Change Management, and High Performing Team-Building were identified as the most important leadership topics.

Conclusion

Orthopaedic surgeons in Latin America demonstrate an interest in acquiring additional leadership skills but have few opportunities. Identifying interests, knowledge gaps, and core competencies can guide the development of such opportunities.

SUBMITTER: MacKechnie MC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8575414 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:PurposeOrthopaedic residents are increasingly seeking international health electives (IHEs) during training, and many such experiences involve providing orthopaedic trauma care. However, little is known about the availability of IHEs during orthopaedic trauma fellowship training. The purpose of our study is to assess the global health opportunities available to US orthopaedic trauma fellows.MethodWe conducted an online, Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap)-based survey of orthopaedic trauma fellowship program directors (PDs) in the United States. The survey link was sent by the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) Fellowship Committee to all US OTA-approved orthopaedic trauma fellowship PDs. Follow-up reminder e-mails were delivered at set time intervals from baseline over a period of 4 weeks.ResultsThe overall response rate was 80% (43/54). Only 3 of 43 responding programs (7%) offer a structured global health program, but over the last 10 years, 12.5% of the remaining programs (5/40) have had a fellow participate in an IHE during fellowship training. Around 100% of PDs reported fellow satisfaction with their IHEs, and all PDs agreed that the educational experience provided by their fellows' IHE participation was valuable. Among programs with no recent fellow IHE participation and without a structured global health program, 9% of PDs (3/35) expect to institute such a program. Lack of funding, lack of established international partner sites, and fellow time away were the most common perceived barriers to IHE participation. A total of 54% of PDs agree that participation in an IHE during training plays a major role in shaping fellows' future professional and volunteer activities.ConclusionThere are limited global health opportunities among US orthopaedic trauma fellowship programs, with only 7% (3/43) offering a structured global health program. Perceived barriers include lack of funding, lack of established partner sites, and concerns related to clinical/call coverage. Greater efforts to establish sustainable funding and international partnerships may increase opportunities for IHEs during orthopaedic trauma fellowship training.

Project description:Governments, development banks, corporations, and nonprofits are increasingly considering the potential contribution of watershed conservation activities to secure clean water for cities and to reduce flood risk. These organizations, however, often lack decision-relevant, initial screening information across multiple cities to identify which specific city-watershed combinations present not only water-related risks but also potentially attractive opportunities for mitigation via natural infrastructure approaches. To address this need, this paper presents a novel methodology for a continental assessment of the potential for watershed conservation activities to improve surface drinking water quality and mitigate riverine and stormwater flood risks in 70 major cities across Latin America. We used publicly available geospatial data to analyze 887 associated watersheds. Water quality metrics assessed the potential for agricultural practices, afforestation, riparian buffers, and forest conservation to mitigate sediment and phosphorus loads. Flood reduction metrics analyzed the role of increasing infiltration, restoring riparian wetlands, and reducing connected impervious surface to mitigate riverine and stormwater floods for exposed urban populations. Cities were then categorized based on relative opportunity potential to reduce identified risks through watershed conservation activities. We find high opportunities for watershed activities to mitigate at least one of the risks in 42 cities, potentially benefiting 96 million people or around 60% of the urbanites living in the 70 largest cities in Latin America. We estimate water quality could be improved for 72 million people in 27 cities, riverine flood risk mitigated for 5 million people in 13 cities, and stormwater flooding mitigated for 44 million people in 14 cities. We identified five cities with the potential to simultaneously enhance water quality and mitigate flood risks, and in contrast, six cities where conservation efforts are unlikely to meaningfully mitigate either risk. Institutions investing in natural infrastructure to improve water security in Latin America can maximize their impact by focusing on specific watershed conservation activities either for cleaner drinking water or flood mitigation in cities identified in our analysis where these interventions are most likely to reduce risk.