Guidelines on Intinerant Surgeons in the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

An Itinerant Surgeon is a physician who volunteers to work in health care systems other than his or her own. The volunteer may provide services such as consultation, special tests and surgery but, in addition, may also transmit information or goods such as books, literature, equipment and instruments. SERVICES OF AN ITINERANT OR VISITING TEAM For any itinerant team, an advance visit is desirable to define a programme of activities. The visiting team's efforts should focus on a sustainable change in the programme for prevention of blindness in the host country through advocacy for preventitive measures, quality eye care, human resources development, infrastructure building and development of administrative proceesses.The team should work within the existing system of eye care delivery at the governmental facilities or approved non-Governmental Development Organizations(NGDOs). Any visit of foreign team is an opportunity for interviews in the media to increase public awareness in eye care, and for advocacy by the team in the governmental structure. The local eye care professionals should identify posible technical and scientific topics in which they need training, if that aspect is recognised as an important product of the visit. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the following guidelines for donation of equipment in order to assist donors and recipients the donation should benefit and fully respect the wishes and authority of the recipient; the quality should be based on an expressed need by the recipient; before a donation is made - the need for specific items and their expiration date are evaluated; - there must be assurance that it will be used for the purpose for which it is donated; - the person or group who will be responsible for receipt and distribution must be identified; - the customs regulations and shipping costs must be determined. A visiting team may also provide very valuable knowledge in organisation and establishment of processes in the different aspects of a service such as organisation of an operating room, keeping an inventory of consumable supplies, organising an appointment and record system and basic statistics. JUSTIFICATION OF A VISITING OR ITINERANT TEAM The itinerant service should provide solutions to specific problems or gaps in availability of services (AU) [truncated at 2500 characters]