Age at Primary Cleft Lip Repair:A Potential Bellwether Indicator for Pediatric Surgery

Background:. The bellwether procedures described by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery represent the ability to deliver adult surgical services after there is a clear and easily made diagnosis. There is a need for pediatric surgery bellwether indicators. A pediatric bellwether indicator would ideally be a routinely performed procedure, for a relatively common condition that, in itself, is rarely lethal at birth, but that should ideally be treated with surgery by a standard age. Additionally, the condition should be easy to diagnose, to minimize the confounding effects of delays or failures in diagnosis. In this study, we propose the age at primary cleft lip (CL) repair as a bellwether indicator for pediatric surgery. Method:. We reviewed the surgical records of 71,346 primary cleft surgery patients and ultimately studied age at CL repair in 40,179 patients from 73 countries, treated by Smile Train partners for 2019. Data from Smile Train’s database were correlated with World Bank and WHO indicators. Results:. Countries with a higher average age at CL repair (delayed access to surgery) had higher maternal, infant, and child mortality rates as well as a greater risk of catastrophic health expenditure for surgery. There was also a negative correlation between delayed CL repair and specialist surgical workforce numbers, life expectancy, percentage of deliveries by C-section, total health expenditure per capita, and Lancet Commission on Global Surgery procedure rates. Conclusion:. These findings suggest that age at CL repair has potential to serve as a bellwether indicator for pediatric surgical capacity in Lower- and Middle-income Countries

Remote Supergroup for Chemistry Undergraduates: An Inclusive Scientific Community for Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

The Remote Supergroup for Chemistry Undergraduates (RSCU) is a community of students and faculty from primarily undergraduate institutions that aims to (1) engage students in discussions of chemical research, (2) inform students of further educational and career pathways, (3) increase awareness and discourse of equity issues in science, and (4) foster scientific community across institutions. RSCU engaged participants in impactful virtual activities during the summer of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic precluded in-person undergraduate research experiences, and the program continued in 2021 as in-person research resumed. Results from self-reported surveys show that RSCU successfully achieved its aims both years, and both students and faculty research mentors benefited from participation. The diverse activities and scientific network cultivated by RSCU complement undergraduate research experiences and could be adapted to other disciplines

The First Hybrid International Educational Comprehensive Cleft Care Workshop.

OBJECTIVE Describe the first hybrid global simulation-based comprehensive cleft care workshop, evaluate impact on participants, and compare experiences based on in-person versus virtual attendance. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey-based evaluation. SETTING International comprehensive cleft care workshop. PARTICIPANTS Total of 489 participants. INTERVENTIONS Three-day simulation-based hybrid comprehensive cleft care workshop. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participant demographic data, perceived barriers and interventions needed for global comprehensive cleft care delivery, participant workshop satisfaction, and perceived short-term impact on practice stratified by in-person versus virtual attendance. RESULTS The workshop included 489 participants from 5 continents. The response rate was 39.9%. Participants perceived financial factors (30.3%) the most significant barrier and improvement in training (39.8%) as the most important intervention to overcome barriers facing cleft care delivery in low to middle-income countries. All participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the workshop and a strong positive perceived short-term impact on their practice. Importantly, while this was true for both in-person and virtual attendees, in-person attendees reported a significantly higher satisfaction with the workshop (28.63 ± 3.08 vs 27.63 ± 3.93; P = .04) and perceived impact on their clinical practice (22.37 ± 3.42 vs 21.02 ± 3.45 P = .01). CONCLUSION Hybrid simulation-based educational comprehensive cleft care workshops are overall well received by participants and have a positive perceived impact on their clinical practices. In-person attendance is associated with significantly higher satisfaction and perceived impact on practice. Considering that financial and health constraints may limit live meeting attendance, future efforts will focus on making in-person and virtual attendance more comparable