Improving Global Health

In many developing countries, the number of qualified surgeons is vastly inadequate. In Uganda, for example, there are 100 surgeons for a population of 24 million people. Most of these physicians are located in urban areas, inaccessible to a large proportion of the population.

The goal of the Temerty/Chang Telesimulation Centre’s telesimulation outreach program is to increase the number of qualified surgeons, and other health care practitioners, and improve access to desperately needed medical services.

Health incidents such as broken bones, infections, or complications from childbirth can become life-threatening or cause permanent disability without appropriate medical care. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 500,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related complications that could be prevented with surgical intervention.

Telesimulation offers an easy-to-implement solution to increase the number of trained medical professionals who can perform basic and more advanced surgical techniques, regardless of location.  Once trained, graduates of the telesimulation program can become qualified to instruct other surgeons, thereby further expanding local health care resources.

By increasing our telesimulation resources, we will be able to reach more regions and offer more opportunities for health care providers to develop urgently needed medical skills.

The long-range goal for the Temerty/Chang Telesimulation Centre is to offer surgical training in other procedures and in other vital areas of medicine such as anesthesiology, obstetrics, emergency care, community health and technical support services.