Here are five notes:
1. The study, published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, examines the potential of sustainable surgical follow-up programs after these mission trips.
2. The sustainable follow-up program model involves assigning one surgeon from the developing country in question to oversee postoperative visits up to a year after the procedures.
3. Researchers studied 10 surgical mission trips completed in Peru with a mean time of six days on location.
4. Of the 127 patients eligible for follow-up, 81.9 percent were seen for post-surgical care.
5. The mean direct cost of the follow-up program was $20,041 per year.
“This model puts the incentive for follow-up on the designated local medical provider and also provides the visiting surgeons with necessary post-trip follow-up results up to one-year later,” said Peter A. Cole, MD, orthopedic surgeon, professor of orthopedics at Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota and lead study author.
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