Global health training in U.S. emergency medicine residency programs

Abstract Objectives Formal education in Global Health (GH) and short-term experiences in Global Health (STEGH) are offered by many Emergency Medicine (EM) residency programs in the United States (US). In an increasingly connected world, training in GH and STEGH can provide essential knowledge and practical skills to trainees, particularly at the Graduate Medical Education (GME) level. The current core programmatic components and the essential competencies and curricula that support ethical and effective STEGH, however, still vary widely. The authors conducted a survey of 228 EM residency programs in the US in order to describe the current state of GH training and STEGH. Methods An online survey was developed in REDCap by the authors a team of GH faculty. In July 2018 programs were invited to participate via individual invitation of program directors from a directory. The programs received two reminders to participate until January 2019. Results Of the 84 programs that responded, 75% offer STEGH and 39% have longitudinal GH curricula. Within these programs, only 55% have dedicated GH faculty and only 70% have dedicated sites. Both faculty and residents encounter funding and insurance barriers; most notably, only 20% of programs that offer STEGH provide evacuation insurance for their residents. Most residents (95%) engage in clinical work along with teaching and other activities, but 24% of programs do not allow these activities to fulfill any residency requirements. Finally, only 80% and 85% of programs offer preparatory and debriefing activities for residents, respectively. Conclusions While the results of this survey show progress relative to prior surveys, there is still barriers to implementing GH curricula and supporting safe, ethical, and effective STEGH, particularly in the form of continued financial and logistical support for faculty and for residents, in US EM training programs.