Global Health and Volunteering Beyond Borders, 1st ed. 2019 A Guide for Healthcare Professionals

Global Health and Volunteering: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals is designed to educate volunteers to be effective partners in delivering medical services locally and globally.  Healthcare professionals are increasingly interested in global health and volunteering in areas of acute need.  The biggest challenge to health in many locales is the inability to access the health care system.  When people do connect with medical services, medications and surgical opportunities for chronic disease (i.e. glaucoma, diabetes, or hypertension) are often not affordable or cannot be sustained for a long period of time. 

The contributions in this book focus on a respectful dialog with local people and a willingness to learn from new experiences on the part of the volunteer.  Skills transfer from visiting personnel to local providers is featured as a means to enhance healthcare sustainability.

An appreciation of differing cultures, an understanding of the local economic conditions and challenges, and strategies for collaborating with the existing medical establishment are foundations of successful volunteer experiences as highlighted in this book.  Dimensions of global health such as professionalism, religious beliefs, ethical dilemmas, traditional medicine, and alternative strategies for service are addressed by experts.

Written and edited by leaders in the field, many of whom have more than two decades of experience volunteering abroad, Global Health and Volunteering: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals imparts lessons learned to help the reader avoid initial mistakes, while making the global health commitment stronger.

Chapter 1 An Overview Of Global Health For The Healthcare Professional.- Chapter 2 Global Health Education.- Chapter 3 Perspectives On Global Health And Volunteerism For Health Care Providers: The Importance Of Preparation, Identification And Management Of Infectious Diseases And Mitigation Of Other Risks.- Chapter 4 What Could Go Wrong?: Providing A Moral Grounding To The Ethics Of Short-Term Medicine.- Chapter 5 Religious Foundations For Global Health Missions.- Chapter 6 Professionalism In Global Health.- Chapter 7 Technical Factors In Telemedicine Adoption In Extreme Resource Poor Countries.- Chapter 8 Encountering Traditional Medicine In Global Health Service.- Chapter 9  Humanitarian Relief:  A Public Health View.- Chapter 10 Military Medicine And Global Health: A Core Competency.- Chapter 11 The Role Of Professional Societies In Achieving Global Health Security: Validating A Discipline Of Disaster Medicine And Public Health.- Chapter 12 Global Health Organizations: What They Are And How They Work.- Chapter 13 Cultural Sensitivity In Global Outreach.- Chapter 14 Country Spotlight: China.- Chapter 15 Country Spotlight: India.- Chapter 16 Recollections Of My International Experiences.- Chapter 17 Country Spotlight: Africa.- Chapter 18 Country Spotlight:  Eastern Mediterranean.- Chapter 19 Country Spotlight: Caribbean.- Chapter 20 Cultural Considerations For Health Care Treatment Of Latinos In The United States.- Chapter 21 Similarities Greater Than Differences: A Doctor’s Perspective.- Chapter 22 International Foundations For Ophthalmology.- Chapter 23 Global Ophthalmology.- Chapter 24 Ophthalmology: India.- Chapter 25 Conclusion.

Mildred M.G. Olivier, MD FACS

Professor of Surgery, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science / Chicago Medical School

Assistant Dean for Diversity, Director of Global Health, CEO Midwest Glaucoma Center, PC

Glaucoma Consultant John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County

Hoffman Estates IL, USA

Clarisse Croteau-Chonka, PhD

And So It Begins, LLC

Chicago, IL, USA

Prepares students and first-time volunteers to be effective helpers locally and globally

Discusses topics such as appreciation of differing cultures, an understanding of the local economic conditions, a willingness to learn from new experiences, and strategies for collaborating with the existing medical establishment

Provides pathways to integrate long-range learning on the part of the volunteer and skills transfer to local personnel

Discusses the pitfalls to be avoided when volunteering abroad, including cultural ignorance, lack of background in local medical conditions, assuming that there is only one way to treat patients, and medical voyeurism

Written and edited by leading experts in the field