Acute care surgery, trauma and disaster relief: a clinical exchange between the University of British Columbia and the Mexican Red Cross.

Background Our objective was to establish a sustainable educational partnership and clinical exchange between the trauma services at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and the Mexican Red Cross hospital in Mexico City (Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja [HCCR] Polanco). Methods In 2017, a general surgery resident in postgraduate year 4 travelled from VGH to HCCR Polanco for the initial exchange, followed by a trauma fellow. The surgical case volumes in a month at VGH and a month at HCCR Polanco were compared. At the end of the exchange, a 36-item Likert style questionnaire was administered to the Mexican surgeons and residents who interacted with the Canadian resident and fellow during the exchange. Results The most commonly performed procedures on the VGH acute care surgery service were laparoscopic cholecystectomy (35%) and laparoscopic appendectomy (17%). The most commonly performed procedures on the VGH trauma service were chest tube insertions (24%) and tracheostomies (24%). The most commonly performed procedures at HCCR Polanco were surgery for penetrating abdominal trauma (19%) and extremity trauma (13%). The survey results indicated that the costs of travel and accommodation were obstacles to future exchanges. All survey respondents wanted to continue collaborating with Canadians on clinical and research endeavours, felt that hosting Canadian residents was a valuable experience and felt that visiting VGH would also be valuable. Conclusion Canadian surgical trainees gained valuable exposure to operative trauma during the exchange. The mix of operations performed at VGH and HCCR Polanco was vastly different; therefore, the exchange broadened the trainees' surgical experience. There was a unanimously positive response to the exchange among the Mexican survey respondents. This exchange is part of a long-term collaboration between our surgical centres.