Abstract:

Background: In 2007, Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) began annually to send approximately 30 residents in internal medicine and pediatrics to Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania, where they were supervised and mentored by 2 full-time WCMC faculty physicians.

Objective: To describe the components of the WCMC global health elective and to evaluate the experiences of the participants.

Methods: Subjects were WCMC residents in internal medicine and pediatrics from the graduating classes of 2007–2009. Electronic surveys were sent to all participants (n  = 57) and to a group of nonparticipants (n  =  57).

Results: Overall response rate was 58%. The most-selected, primary reasons for participation in the program were an interest in global health and a desire to serve an underprivileged population. Participants rated use of routine laboratory tests in the United States as more overused than did nonparticipants (P  =  .01). After the elective, 62% of participants reported a reduced use of laboratory and/or radiologic tests. All participants (100%; 39 of 39) reported the elective as having a positive effect on their knowledge of international health and tropical medicine. More than 90% of participants (36 of 39) reported the elective as having a positive effect on their physical examination skills.

Conclusions: Participants of the WCMC global health elective report positive experiences from our multidimensional global health collaboration.