title: Global opportunities on 239 general surgery residency Web sites.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many general surgical residency programs lack a formal international component. We hypothesized that most surgery programs do not have international training or do not provide the information to prospective applicants regarding electives or programs in an easily accessible manner via Web-based resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  Individual general surgery program Web sites and the American College of Surgeons residency tool were used to identify 239 residencies. The homepages were examined for specific mention of international or global health programs. Ease of access was also considered. Global surgery specific pages or centers were noted. Programs were assessed for length of rotation, presence of research component, and mention of benefits to residents and respective institution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 239 programs, 24 (10%) mentioned international experiences on their home page and 42 (18%) contained information about global surgery. Of those with information available, 69% were easily accessible. Academic programs were more likely than independent programs to have information about international opportunities on their home page (13.7% versus 4.0%, P = 0.006) and more likely to have a dedicated program or pathway Web site (18.8% versus 2.0%, P < 0.0001). Half of the residencies with global surgery information did not have length of rotation available. Research was only mentioned by 29% of the Web sites. Benefits to high-income country residents were discussed more than benefits to low- and middle-income country residents (57% versus 17%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  General surgery residency programs do not effectively communicate international opportunities for prospective residents through Web-based resources and should seriously consider integrating international options into their curriculum and better present them on department Web sites.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington. Electronic address: jwacker2@jhu.edu.
authors.forename: Joel J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wackerbarth
authors.affiliation: The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Health and Innovation, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wren
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Education Intermountain Medical Center, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah.
authors.forename: Raymond R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Ronald V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery Emerita, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Numann
authors.affiliation: Surgeons OverSeas, New York, New York; Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, New York; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Adam L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Kushner
mesh_terms: D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007396:Internship and Residency
keywords: General surgery residency; Global health; Global surgery; International surgery; Resident education