HGAI members met for dinner and discussion on Thurs, March 24th. in the home of Lena Dohlman. The editorial “We Need More Reports of Global Health Anesthesia Articles” and article “Anesthesia Capacity in 22 Low And Middle Income Countries” were discussed. Dr Daniel Vo, first author of the article was present and led a stimulating discussion about the difficulties of collecting anesthesia capacity data. Some of the key components of our discussion included:
· Lack of global health anesthesia-related publications compared to surgical global health publications. We discussed the possible reasons behind this reality, such as lack of dedicated research time during anesthesia residency compared to mandatory 1 year of research in most surgical residencies.
· We discussed the challenges of gathering data in developing countries. Dr. Vo encountered many challenges with standardizing his data and verifying his sources for his article, “Anesthesia Capacity in 22 Low And Middle Income Countries”. Although these difficulties will likely continue, it’s prudent to push forward in order to bring attention to the lack of resources in developing countries
· We discussed the importance of qualitative research in anesthesia global health in the future
· Residents stressed the need for collaborative work to brain storm ideas for future anesthesia global health research.
