Education
Radiation Oncology Rotation in Botswana: Resident Experience and Career Interests

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Introduction

Low- and middle-income countries are seeing an increasing cancer burden.1,2 Exposure to global oncology is crucial for trainees in high-income countries to be able to contribute solutions to this global crisis. Our rotation in Botswana, established by Botswana Ministry of Health and the Botswana UPenn Partnership in partnership with the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, is designed to engage North American residents in global oncology practice and research. In the current analysis, we present resident expectations and experiences during this rotation to explore the role of global health rotations in preparing a health workforce to address the increasing cancer burden in low- and middle-income countries.

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Methods and Materials

We administered pre- and postexperience electronic surveys to residents who completed the 1-month oncology rotation at Princess Marina Hospital and Gaborone Private Hospital between August 2015 and July 2019. Twelve residents participated in the survey, which was required for completion of the rotation. Standardized questions were asked to assess residents’ backgrounds, global health interests, home institution global health programming, rotation expectations, and overall reflections. We

Results and Discussion

Thirteen survey responses were included in the analysis because 1 resident completed 2 different rotations (see Table 1 for summary of participant demographics and experiences). Mean participant age was 31 years. Seventy-seven percent of respondents were female, and 54% were in the fourth year of residency. Although only 38% of residents had a global health program at their home institution, most (92%) had a program director supportive of global health interests.

Residents listed the following

Conclusions

Completion of the rotation was associated with increased interest in practicing global medicine and conducting global health research. Despite high interest in global health, most residents did not have access to global health programming within their home institution. These findings, although limited by the small sample size, suggest that a dedicated international radiation oncology rotation can promote commitment to addressing the challenges within global oncology.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Mentored Patient Oriented Career Research Development Award (1-K08CA230170-01A1), Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Gaborone Private Hospital, Princess Marina Hospital, the Center for Global Health at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Botswana-UPenn Partnership for their support in the development of this rotation.

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This work was supported by the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania.

Disclosures: N.V. is chair of the ACGME RRC.

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