Interprofessional Education Program for Surgical Mission to Guatemala
This course will provide a special training program for medical providers on an international surgical medical mission to Guatemala to address patient care challenges related to people with varied training and backgrounds forming a treatment team to provide surgical care in a limited resource environment.
Target Audience
Nurse
Nurse Practitioner
Physician
Physician Assistant
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, participants should be able to: 1. Routine use of structured safety systems such as the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist, including preoperative briefings and postoperative debriefings. 2. Use of standardized difficult airway algorithms adapted for low-resource environments, including clear escalation pathways and preparation for surgical airway. 3. Recognize hemorrhage early using clinical indicators and implementation of standardized hemorrhage protocols (including tranexamic acid and coordinated surgical response). 4. Use evidence-based, resource-appropriate anesthesia strategies (e.g., ketamine-based anesthesia, regional techniques, simplified monitoring aligned with American Society of Anesthesiologists standards). 5. Implement structured postoperative monitoring protocols and standardized discharge criteria. 6. Use crisis resource management principles, including closed-loop communication, role clarity, and structured debriefing.

In support of improving patient care, the University of Pittsburgh is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
This activity is approved for the following credit: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, ANCC, and AAPA Category 1 CME. Other health care professionals will receive a certificate of attendance confirming the number of contact hours commensurate with the extent of participation in this activity.

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