Global Health Tracks for Pediatric Residency Programs: Arriving at a Consensus :

More and more medical students applying for residency positions ask at their interviews about what global health options are available. Yet if you’ve seen one global health track for residents, you’ve seen one track for residents because of how different these tracks can be. That is why Haq et al. (10.1542/peds.2018-3860) decided to bring together a panel of 12 global health education experts to use a Delphi process to better determine what a global health track should consist of in residency.  The results are shared in this interesting article being early released this week.  At a minimum, a global health track needs to be longitudinal, with international and /or domestic rotations as well as pre-departure and post-return debriefings as well as some kind of scholarly output project done by the resident on this track.  The panel also identifies what institutional supports need to be provided as well as key outcome measures to evaluate the track.  The overall goal of defining minimal criteria for these tracks is to improve the quality of the learning experience for residents interested in pursuing global health as all or part of their career pathway.  Journey through the many recommendations made in this article and then see if your local residency program is in compliance with these recommendations. This article can help improve the quality standards and consistency of global health tracks across programs—something that will be welcomed by trainees and preceptors interested in improving their global health experience.