This experience begins with a busy full-day clinic, in order to meet patients as a team, develop a treatment algorithm, perform health screenings for anesthesia safety, medically photograph patients, and schedule them within the appropriate time-frame for the trip. The clinic consists of all members of the Nuoy Reconstructive International team, along with the Vietnamese team. This is a multidisciplinary clinic. All patients are seen with a medical translator. Based on this clinic, a patient list is generated and organized based on severity and urgency, with more complex patients being operated on during the first several days of the trip.
The rotation then proceeds with full days of operations, inpatient rounds, local procedures in clinics and preparation of patients and their families for surgery by US and in-country faculty, residents and nursing staff. The residents and faculty also take part in didactic teaching, course instruction, grand rounds, and all other educational activities.
This trip will make a difference by:
Teaching team members how to understand the needs, opportunities and limitations of plastic surgery in limited resource environments, and to develop strategies for delivering safe, sustainable care with an educational focus
Develop sustainable global health collaborations with surgeons, residents and medical staff at the host hospitals by working using a team based approach with an emphasis on collegiality, education and safe patient care.
Expand experience in treatment of late presentation/advanced disease states in individuals with limited resources.
Immerse and assimilate into new cultures, understanding unique health beliefs, customs and language.
Provide plastic surgery treatments to patients who otherwise would not be able to access care.
The site serves the most underserved and financially limited individuals in Vietnam. I would like to serve this population because I have family ties to the Vietnamese community. The site performs no cost/extremely low cost surgical reconstruction for patients with congenital anomalies, traumatic injuries and oncologic diagnoses. The program is long-standing (20 years) and thus has developed robust relationships with multiple hospitals.
The program has a plan specific to resident education including robust case review and involves attending surgeons from a variety of programs and specialties. And thus, both US and Vietnamese residents will also benefit from this project by exchanging experiences and education.
I have always had a passion for global health stemming from my experience of close family who have had poor access to care. With visits to the Philippines and with personal medical care in Guam, I have experienced that there are still disparities and challenges to access medical care. Now with the advent of vaccinations and antibiotics, infectious disease medical care is better disseminated throughout the world, however, there is still a need for surgical care for post-traumatic reconstruction and congenital anomalies. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery in 2015 stated an initiative increasing access to global surgery and listed it as a major public health concern. I have previously been a part of global health experiences that aim to provide sustainable global health partnerships with providers outside of the U.S., in a way that is directed by the welcoming country. I have previously joined in global health trip as a premedical student in 2016, on a trip to the Philippines, where we helped out local hospitals and provided surgical care for the underserved. I was involved with a global health project in partnership with Dr. Myint Thi Wei of Myanmar under the mentorship of Dr. Mount as a Shapiro research project during medical school in 2017. I was also involved in ConnectMed, a non-profit organization that focused on care of patients with craniofacial differences, as well as outreach and surgical care in Mexico in 2019-2020.
All this to say, that while there will be a positive impact bridging the surgical disparities in Vietnam by providing surgical care; I know that I will learn so much from the Vietnamese community and health care professionals. I intend to take what I learn from this experience and teach others in the US or in other global health partnerships and ultimately be a conduit of information, bridging gaps between healthcare professionals around the world. I hope to make global surgery a part of my practice as an attending.
I had the privilege to help support talented Vietnamese surgeons and serve the Vietnamese people. As part of a robust global health initiative, University of Wisconsin Plastic Surgery in partnership with Nuoy Reconstructive International, created opportunities for learners like me to experience sustainable global health with bidirectional learning. I had the opportunity to help educate Vietnamese healthcare professionals and trainees on specialized procedures in craniofacial surgery, craniosynostosis, and orbital fractures. In return, I learned so much about different styles of patient care, surgical technique, and cost efficacy. In addition to common Vietnamese words used in surgery.
During the entirety of the trip, our team completed 47 complex surgeries in support of local surgeons in 2 weeks. The local surgeons vetted their own patients, came up with their own operative plan in partnership with us, and have continued follow-up with our team beyond this trip. I am eager to return and continue to help support the local surgeons, serve the amazing people of Vietname, and learn even more from them.
