SURG 542: Directed Study in Global Surgical Care

Through the Directed Study course, students will carry out an exhaustive search of the world literature, on a global surgical care topic of their choice.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: SURG 510, SURG 512, SURG 514, and SURG 517. (SURG 517 and SURG 542 can be taken concurrently)

Topics will be chosen by the student in the specialty discipline in consultation with a faculty advisor to support in-depth learning of the current state of knowledge in that topic and to explore knowledge deficits that need to be addressed. This course will promote knowledge acquisition and critical thinking for the student and contribute significantly to the education of peers and to UBC’s Global Surgical Care knowledge repository.

Upon completion of this course, the learner will:

  • identify impediments in providing patients in a low-resource setting the required surgical care
  • analyze the reasons behind and the relevant factors contributing to the impediment
  • collaborate with colleagues locally, nationally and internationally to coordinate efficient solutions to identified impediments in provision of surgical care to patients in low-resource settings
  • establish a framework to work within to develop creative and/or novel solutions to improve surgical care provision to patients in low-resource settings
  • acquire additional knowledge in a learner chosen discipline or field of specialization in the area of global surgical care provision
  • demonstrate self-directed and life-long learning education skills in the field of provision of surgical care in low-resource settings

What our students have to say:

“The online discussions were very useful, with ideas shared by classmates and good feedback from instructors.”
 
[The instructor] “provided good feedback on student questions along with additional resources for student consideration.”
 
[The instructor] “maintained good contact, answered student questions effectively, and provided good insight and feedback in discussions and throughout the course.”
 
[The instructor] “provided detailed feedback and was very supportive of student success.”
 
“I liked that we were supported to undertake a scoping review and learn about how to properly prepare a piece of academic writing for publishing.”
 
“Good interaction with class, good support, individual and specific attention to each student.”
 
“Stepwise introduction, introduced the course, took time to hear the topic ideas from students and gave feedback before students could go deep into the learning and assignment preparation. The course is highly demanding which is good for learning and it thus needs time with mentors and instructors in terms of zoom calls etc. The course is a great foundation for other courses in understanding deeply areas of students global surgery interests.”
 
[Instructor was] “Very friendly, kind and open to helping students. Really appreciated [their] support through the course.”
 
[Instructor was] “Very approachable, good support to the students throughout the course. I particularly appreciated the guidance received and valuable suggestions for my study project.”
 
“The feedback for the proposed topics were excellent and gave a good and broader view of how I can direct my scoping review to align to my career interests.”