Short-term medical service trips: A systematic review of the evidence

K.J. Sykes

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 7, e38-e48

Abstract: Short-term medical service trips (MSTs) aim to address unmet health care needs of low- and middleincome countries. The lack of critically reviewed empirical evidence of activities and outcomes is a concern. Developing evidence-based recommendations for health care delivery requires systematic research review. I focused on MST publications with empirical results. Searches in May 2013 identified 67 studies published since 1993, only 6% of the published articlesonthe topic in the past 20 years. Nearly 80% reported on surgical trips. Although the MST field is growing, its medical literature lags behind,with nearly all of the scholarly publications lacking significant data collection. By incorporating data collection into service trips, groups can validate practices and provide information about areas needing improvement.

Keywords: attitude to health; cost benefit analysis; developing country; economics; health personnel attitude; human; international cooperation; needs assessment; organization and management; patient care; religion; review; statistics; student; treatment outcome; volunteer, Attitude of Health Personnel; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Developing Countries; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Medical Missions, Official; Needs Assessment; Patient Care Team; Religion; Students; Treatment Outcome; Volunteers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2014.301983

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.301983_6

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.301983

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().