Missiles are targeting our hospitals. We are filling tires with sand to create shock absorbers on the roof. You can hear the fighter planes overhead as people duck for cover. We start the operation in the hospital corridor with only flashlights. Lives lost. Resources gone... You close your eyes and are imagining this scene; however, you’re not sitting in a conference, listening to the experiences of Syrian war-time surgeon, Dr. Mahmoud Hariri. Instead, you are sitting on your couch, or you’re running, or you’re cooking - welcome to the Global Scalpels podcast!
The current covid-19 pandemic has shut down economies, restricted travel, and stretched our healthcare systems to the edge, but despite this time of destruction, we wanted to make a platform for creation, a platform for growth, and a platform for unity. The Global Scalpels podcast was recently founded and is launching on June 5th, 2020. Its date on the 5th of each month, as well as its signature 5 final questions are dedicated to the 5 billion people worldwide without access to safe, accessible surgery (1). With this podcast, we aim to inspire, engage, and promote action to solve challenges in global surgery by highlighting a range of topics. The podcast is targeted towards anyone interested in the field of global surgery - surgeons, technology wizards, business people, and researchers alike.
We hope to highlight that global surgery is a team effort and that engagement with all professionals, such as designers, entrepreneurs, advocacy gurus, and clinicians, is essential to provide the 143 million additional surgical procedures required annually. Who should we expect to see on the podcast?
As social media demonstrates, not all valuable work in global surgery belongs in an academic journal, hidden behind a paywall. Whilst we acknowledge the importance of peer-reviewed information, the presence of these journals biases the academic world of global surgery towards works authored by clinicians for clinicians. This is in stark contrast to the ethos of health system strengthening, which relies on a multi-disciplinary approach, engaging everyone from economists to government advisors. At present, there is a scarcity of platforms engaging with these other important players in the field of global surgery. Our podcast sets out to change this.
By highlighting both our non-clinician colleagues alongside clinicians, we hope to leverage their diverse experiences and their knowledge to inspire and teach. The power of a personal anecdote can be far greater than a p-value, and certainly more accessible to a wider audience.
Furthermore, we hope that many of our speakers, who come from non-traditional backgrounds or had non- traditional careers, can highlight the myriad ways listeners can create their own career paths in global surgery. For example, how did a doctoral researcher in immunology transition from working with immunoglobulin heavy chains to value-based healthcare, or a neurosurgeon start writing for Forbes? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out!
We were initially worried that it would be difficult to convince people to sacrifice an hour of their time for an interview with our team, especially with our digital footprint initially being limited to a logo on an otherwise empty social media page. However, we found the exact opposite. Support has poured in from around the globe. Our speakers have been enthusiastic about the podcast, and we are excited to share their stories. This speaks volumes to the passion of our guests for their work, and we are immensely grateful for the time they have all donated. VOICES • FIVE • SURGERY • 34 Controversies Surrounding “Global” Podcasts: A question we kept asking ourselves at the beginning was, “how can we ensure our Global Scalpels podcast is truly global?” In creating the podcast, we wanted to ensure our platform embraced inclusivity as one of its core values. Despite the best intentions, global surgery can be inequitable at times – skewed in terms of gender, language, and high-income country-centric. Thus, we have attempted to engage with diverse guests to produce shows with equitable representation. We have also highlighted these issues with our guests, gaining advice on how we can ensure low- and middle-income country colleagues are heard, included, and empowered.
Just some of our amazing guests have included a doctor from Morocco talking about student initiatives, technology innovators from Malawi talking about Africa’s WhatsApp clinician connector, and so many more! While we recognize the medium of a podcast may be difficult for some to access due to language or internet connectivity issues, we are doing our best to make it accessible by making it completely free and available on a wide range of platforms. These can be downloaded directly to be heard from a mobile phone, shared via WhatsApp, or played for a friend. We hope in this manner our platform will reach both high-income country and low and middle income country colleagues equally.
Lessons Learned:
For anyone wanting to get involved in global surgery, participate in our podcast, or even create their own, we offer the following five tips:
1. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people via whatever means – Twitter, LinkedIn, or even through a mutual connection.
2.Be prepared. Know you have audience, your speakers, and help them to prepare as well so they have time to think about the stories that have moved them and what they would like to share.
3.Do your research on audio equipment. Good sound quality is key to the audience’s experience, but you also don’t need to spend a fortune to have a high quality product.
4. Work in a team. Find like-minded people who share the same vision and are willing to commit time to making the project a success.
Finally, don’t forget to enjoy recording. It is a privilege to speak with our guests, who are often very entertaining. We always feel like we are getting a one-on-one lecture with the most intelligent and thoughtful individuals and feel so blessed to have them with us and to share their stories with you all!
Voices one of Surgery
