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Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open
GOX
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open
2169-7574
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Hagerstown, MD

GOX-D-24-00774
00022
10.1097/01.GOX.0001063896.70634.1a
3
PSTM Abstract Supplement
PSTM Top Abstracts/Posters 2024
SHARE’s Impact on Medical Students Interested in Global Plastic Surgery
Thompson Noelle BS 1
Johnson Kathleen MD 1
Alessio-Bilowus Dominic BS 1
Blum Jessica MD, MSc 1
Vyas Raj MD 1
Rohde Christine MD 1
McIntyre Joyce MD 1
Gosman Amanda MD 1
Pusic Andrea MD, MHS, FACS, FRCSC 1
University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, OH
9 2024
18 9 2024
12 Suppl 17Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of The American Society of Plastic Surgeons. All rights reserved.
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.

OPEN-ACCESSTRUE
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pmcBACKGROUND: Surgeons in Humanitarian Alliance for Reconstruction, Research and Education (SHARE) is an innovative program from the Plastic Surgery Foundation designed to address global disparities in plastic surgery. SHARE uniquely provides medical students opportunities to learn about plastic surgery from a global surgery and cultural humility perspective. To refine our curriculum, we developed a survey to investigate current global and plastic surgery education among medical students who participate in SHARE and their attitudes toward SHARE’s current medical student engagement opportunities.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was designed to assess barriers to involvement in plastic surgery and global surgery, motivations for joining SHARE, SHARE’s impact in alleviating barriers to involvement in plastic surgery and global surgery, and whether medical students’ involvement in SHARE affected interest in pursuing a plastic surgery or global surgery career. The survey was distributed via listserv to medical students involved in SHARE as of February 2024.

RESULTS: Thirty-seven out of 79 medical students completed the survey (47%). Forty-nine percent were between the ages of 26-30 years old and 49% were first-generation immigrants to the United States or Canada or were a member of a first-generation family. Racial and ethnic composition included: 32% White/Caucasian, 29% Asian/Asian American, 25% Black/African American, 11% Middle-Eastern/North African, and 4% preferred not to say. While most participants (81%) were interested in pursuing plastic surgery residency, 61% attended a medical school without an integrated plastic surgery program and 31% had never had an opportunity to discuss plastic surgery cases in any setting prior to joining SHARE. Among participants who had any previous global health involvement, only 44% of these global health opportunities focused on global surgery specifically. Primary motivations for participating in SHARE were to network with plastic surgeons, learn about the experience of surgeons outside of North America, and to learn more about global surgery. The activities that medical students participated in within SHARE that enabled exposure and involvement in global plastic surgery included: clinical assemblies (36%), small groups (27%), panel at Plastic Surgery the Meeting 2023 (23%), and serving on a subcommittee (14%). The majority of participants (57%) were more interested in plastic surgery after being involved with SHARE (p < 0.001). Ninety-three percent of participants stated that their interest in incorporating global surgery into their career was moderately or greatly increased after participating in SHARE, compared to 7% unchanged and 0% decreased (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Our study highlights the critical role that SHARE plays in alleviating barriers medical students face regarding plastic surgery exposure and global surgery education. These results will be used to target opportunities to further optimize medical students’ role in the SHARE program.
