Letter Response: Design and Implementation of a Global Health and Underserved Care Track.

We sincerely appreciate the letter response by Djoutsop and Kanmounye to “Design and Implementation of a Global Health and Underserved Care Track in an Otolaryngology Residency.” The letter introduces the notable work of the Global OHNS initiative and expounds on a number of key points in the original article. In the cited Delphi consensus, a panel of globally diverse experts produced a list of 39 globally important procedures highlighting the breadth and depth of the field. As regional anatomic specialists, otolaryngologists are uniquely positioned to offer medical and surgical care in a global setting to adult and pediatric patients. Despite the opportunity, implementation of formal global health care and health equity educational curriculums is currently limited in otolaryngology residency programs.

Postgraduate training experience in global health and underserved care settings predicts future practice in these locations[2,3]; thus, organized graduate medical education programs have a critical role in helping to address the existing disparities. As the global health and underserved care track continues to develop at our institution, it will be important to not only critically assess resident feedback but also measure our trainees’ preparedness for their future health outreach endeavors. It is our belief that involvement in this educational pathway will help to develop future leaders in global health in our specialty. Once again, thank you to Drs Djoutsop and Kanmounye for their comments, and we look forward to the continued progress of this work.

Disclosures

Competing interests: None.

Sponsorships: None.

Funding source: None.