CGH publishes systematic review on predeparture travel

Anna Kalbarczyk | The Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health

In an effort to better understand the landscape of predeparture preparation for students engaging in global health training, the Center for Global Health recently completed and published a systematic review of the literature with BMC Medical Education. 

Predeparture preparation is an essential component of global health training which equips trainees with knowledge and skills in safety, wellness, ethics, and cultural competence. The goal of this review was to synthesize the landscape of resources available to trainees and provide recommendations for best-practices in terms of curriculum development and delivery. 

From the literature we identified 9 training domains in predpearture preparation: 

• Culture
• Safety
• Project-specific knowledge
• Ethics
• Travel medicine
• Language
• Mentorship
• Professionalism
• Emotional wellness and culture shock

None of the studies we included in the review addressed all 9 domains; the most commonly addressed domains included Culture, Project-specific knowledge, and Safety. Providers of these trainings used different approaches to engage students and interactive or case-based approaches were found to improve attitudes and skills of trainees. Four of the articles also recommended a formal debriefing process after students return from their experience. 

There was also an important focus on building predpearture training material in partnership with collaborators and hosting institutions. 

Through this systematic review the Center for Global Health was able to identify key areas of improvement for its own travel preparation activities many of which are being incorporated this year. 

You can access the entire article here

Visit the Coursera version of the Travel Preparation, Safety & Wellness course

Special thanks to Nina Martin, Emily Nagourney, Victoria Chen, and Bhakti Hansoti. 

Photo Credit: Unknown