The impact of short term volunteer international mission trips on volunteers and patients

Short-term volunteer mission trips account for an important aspect of global health care. The demand and desire to attend a mission trip has grown over the past decade. Self-fulfillment, altruism and philanthropy are said to be the motivating factors behind mission trips. In the present study, the motivation behind abroad short-term volunteer mission trips will be further researched and reported on. Mission trips to third-world countries, providing volunteer healthcare and oral health education have gained much popularity across the United States since their start in the 1980s. These trips are seen as selfless yet self-fulfilling opportunities. The benefits of these short-term volunteer mission trips will be evaluated in this thesis.Some characteristics that make mission trips valuable include the benefits experienced by patients, who would normally not have access to care and also by volunteer participants, who are able to give back to marginalized populations. More recently, the roles of physicians (and dentists) have been studied. Along with studying clinician’s roles on the trips, students’ educational experiences have been examined. Information on various perspectives have been written and are accompanied by a considerable amount of supporting information. Of these arguable points, many consist of discussing the enlargement of educational opportunities. By being a part of these mission’s trips, students can gain valuable skills for their future careers. Cross-cultural experiences during the trips are another alluring aspect for students. As supported by evidence, cultural awareness in the medical and dental field has had a great impact on volunteers. So much so that access to clinical experiences while abroad balances out the needs for the community while serving as a unique educational opportunity to students. The increasing popularity of volunteer trips providing third-world countries with access to healthcare has come with both advantages and disadvantages. The pitfalls and risks of volunteering abroad will be discussed including the drawbacks that include ethical dilemmas. In addition, issues with the infrastructure and framework of the visited country’s health care system are considered. This literature review takes a comprehensive look at medical/dental mission trips of all healthcare fields and proceeds to evaluate associated studies in which patients’ benefits, cross-cultural experiences and providers’ and students’ roles are affected by them

Rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia: procedural pitfalls and translational problems

Rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia are essential tools in experimental stroke research. They have added tremendously to our understanding of injury mechanisms in stroke and have helped to identify potential therapeutic targets. A plethora of substances, however, in particular an overwhelming number of putative neuroprotective agents, have been shown to be effective in preclinical stroke research, but have failed in clinical trials. A lot of factors may have contributed to this failure of translation from bench to bedside. Often, deficits in the quality of experimental stroke research seem to be involved. In this article, we review the commonest rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia - middle cerebral artery occlusion, photothrombosis, and embolic stroke models - with their respective advantages and problems, and we address the issue of quality in preclinical stroke modeling as well as potential reasons for translational failure

Comparing Public vs. Private High School Sports-Related Concussions from a Countywide Concussion Injury Surveillance System

Purpose Largely, research on adolescent sports-related concussion (SRC) has focused on public school athletes. SRCs of private school athletes have been studied less and may differ due to differences between school types. Methods SRCs between Miami-Dade County high school athletes at trained public (n = 1088), trained private (n = 272), and untrained private (n = 79) were compared. Outcomes included days between date of injury (DOI) and clinic date, days between DOI and post-injury ImPACT retest, days withheld, return to play (RTP), ImPACT baseline and post-injury retest completion, and academic accommodation status. Results Trained public and trained private groups had similar days between DOI and clinic date, days withheld, and percentage who RTP. Differences between the trained public and untrained private groups existed for RTP but not for days between DOI and clinic date or days withheld. Private group athletes were more likely to receive academic accommodations. Conclusions Public and private high schools trained on the same SRC protocol did not have significantly different outcomes. The untrained private schools, however, had worse outcomes compared to the public group. Application In Sports SRC outcomes in both public and private high schools may benefit from SRC education, training, an established protocol, and use of a management system

Return to Play and Learn: Findings from a Countywide High School Sports-Related Concussion Program

Purpose To report return to play (RTP) and learn (RTL) findings of high school athletes with a sports-related concussion (SRC) from a 10-year injury surveillance system. The goal was also to explore differences between athletes who received and did not receive academic accommodations. Methods SRC data was entered into a REDCap database by certified athletic trainers (ATs) at 35 public high schools in Miami-Dade County (MDC). A required 6 Steps to Safe Play concussion protocol was implemented between 2012 to 2022. Concussion Clinic data was also reported for as well as symptom scores of post-injury ImPACT retesting. Results From review and analysis of the ImPACT retesting scores, the most common symptoms reported included; headache (54.0%), difficulty concentrating (35.0%), sensitivity to light (34.6%), and dizziness (30.5%). Overall, female athletes reported a higher symptom count and severity on post-injury ImPACT assessments than males (7 vs. 4 total symptoms score; p < 0.001), and all but 4 of the 22 reportable symptoms listed on the symptom inventory (vomiting, fatigue, numbness/tingling, and difficulty remembering) were significant (p < 0.05) between males and females. Despite experiencing a greater number of overall SRCs, athletes playing football had a smaller average (p < 0.001) ImPACT total symptom score than athletes playing other sports (10.9 vs. 14.2). Those seen in clinic and receiving academic accommodations were less likely to RTP, have a greater (p < 0.05) ImPACT total symptom score, more days between injury date and post-ImPACT testing, and a greater number of days until returning to play than athletes not academically accommodated. Conclusions It is important for concussion providers to identify and monitor symptoms post-SRC. Study findings report that high school female athletes report more symptoms following an SRC and that appropriate academic accommodations should be included when necessary to ensure athletes recover in a safe and timely manner. Understanding how SRC symptoms vary based on an athlete's circumstances can help in managing SRC and making better RTL and RTL decisions