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Surgeon Develops Online Resource for Volunteering Abroad in Pediatric Surgery

The first website designed for pediatric surgeons who want to volunteer abroad was unveiled last month at the American Pediatric Surgical Association conference in Orlando, FL. Developed by pediatric surgeon Marilyn Butler, M.D., of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, the Global Paediatric Surgery Network (http://globalpaediatricsurgery.org) helps pediatric surgeons worldwide to find volunteer opportunities and also provides resources to make their efforts more effective.
 
“The main goal is matching up the needs of the surgeons in developing countries with the pediatric surgeons who want to volunteer,” Butler said. A clinical associate professor of pediatric surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, Butler has been on surgical trips to China and Vietnam on several occasions.
 
Using the website, pediatric surgeons can plan or join volunteer trips to specific countries or regions where there is a demand for their services. They can post their availability, and individuals and groups from developing countries can post their needs. The website also provides surgeons in these regions with access to a large number of online journals, videos, webinars and other electronic tools that are relevant to their profession and may be difficult to find where they practice.
 
Of 362 pediatric surgeons who responded to a survey Butler conducted last fall, 70% said they were interested in doing international volunteer work. Meanwhile, more than half said they had never volunteered internationally before. Given this discrepancy, Butler believes the network could usher in a new wave of global volunteerism among pediatric surgeons.

The network contains links to nearly 100 pediatric surgery societies around the world, from Paraguay to Nigeria to Belarus. Prospective volunteers will be able to visit a host of travel-related sites linked to the network to get information about, say, travel documents, vaccinations and the local culture.

The network also will help volunteers assess the surgical needs of the regions they are visiting. “It is critical to involve the local surgeons with any plans you have to assist.  They need to tell you what they want to learn, and you need to make sure they have the skills or the equipment or the facilities that are needed,” Butler said.
 
The Global Paediatric Surgery Network is supported by the Pacific Association of Pediatric Surgeons and Stanford University’s Department of Surgery and Division of Pediatric Surgery.