On this trip, I will travel with several orthopedic surgeons, including a hand surgeon, with whom I will help deliver orthopaedic care to pediatric and adult populations in Da Nang, Vietnam. Alongside local healthcare workers, we will help offer clinical and surgical care for patients with congenital and traumatic deformities not only for patient care, but for education of the local orthopaedic healthcare team in an effort to improve healthcare quality and outcomes in the area.
A large population of patients are pediatric patients with congenital conditions often ignored. Clinical discussion with the patient and with the family can help alleviate stress, worry, and occasionally stigma with certain conditions that can be managed surgically or nonsurgically. In adult populations, trauma predominates, and often times the lack of resources can limit reparative or reconstructive options. Helping restore function, regardless of the situation, is critical in helping patients return to activities they love and to productivity.
The impact is three-fold. Not only will the clinical discussion and education of patients and families provide counseling as to the nature of their conditions and limitations, but surgical decision making and treatment can help improve their functional status and provide new opportunities for patients. Perhaps more importantly, collaboration with local surgeons, nurses, and operative staff can help growth and education of orthopaedic conditions and treatments within the area for the advancement and improvement of local orthopaedic and hand surgery care. Lastly, by our collaboration with different healthcare professionals from a completely different environment, I hope to take away new surgical techniques, mindsets, and the resilience and creativity they must display on a daily basis within the limitations of an underserved and underfunded healthcare system. Witnessing firsthand the differences and similarities of our healthcare systems and delivery will provide a breath of experience and ideas that I can not only draw from in my future career, but share with my colleagues and patients in the future.
Over the course of five days we held a 45 patient pre- and post-op clinic and then performed 16 surgeries. Major surgeries included a pollicization in a young boy with radial club hand and thumb hypoplasia, shoulder tendon transfers for a brachial plexus injury a baby girl sustained during birth, a humeral shaft malunion reconstruction in a young woman with segmental malunions in the upper extremity contributing to her shoulder pain and function restrictions, and nerve repair with tendon reconstruction and transfer in a patient with a healed forearm laceration from sustained at his work. Our experience in Vietnam addressed the full spectrum of pediatric congenital hand injuries to upper extremity trauma in a setting where treatment options are very limited. Rounding on patients and meeting their families was the highlight of our trip and discussing the real-world impact that these surgeries may have on the patients was a welcome reminder of not only why we pursued medicine and hand surgery, but also the incredible impact felt by patients and their families. It was a pleasure to help care for patients in Da Nang, Vietnam and we hope to see them again next year.
