Universal Health Coverage Compendium

Across the world, rural surgeons and healthcare providers make life-or-death decisions in isolation, no specialist to call, no colleague down the hall, no system designed to support them when a case exceeds what one person should have to carry alone. The knowledge exists. The expertise exists. But it is concentrated in the wrong places, disconnected from the frontlines where it is needed most.

The Surgical Communities of Practice Lab exists to close that distance.

Through a rigorous scoping review of virtual Communities of Practice in healthcare, a pre-intervention study mapping the real clinical and professional challenges faced by the rural surgical workforce, and the development of a provider support mobile application, the Lab is building the infrastructure for something deceptively simple: a rural surgeon in a resource-limited setting, facing a complex case, able to reach a trusted global surgical colleague in real time.

Not a textbook. Not a protocol written somewhere else, for somewhere else. A person. With expertise. Available now.

Because the surgical workforce crisis is not only a numbers problem. It is a connection problem. And you cannot retain, support, or strengthen providers you have left to practise alone.

Project Objectives

We believe everyone deserves access to quality surgical care, no matter where they live.

Virtual Community of Practice (vCOP) scoping review and pre-intervention study:
- Assess strengths, weaknesses, and technical considerations of prior and existing healthcare vCOPs
Pre-Intervention Study:
- Identify current clinical/personal challenges faced by the rural surgical workforce and understand the nature of existing provider support networks
Intervention:
- Provider support mobile application (app) to connect remote health professionals with global surgical colleagues who can provide real-time clinical decision support with your complex patient cases

Under the leadership of Nakul Raykar MD, Anita Gadgil MD, Nobhojit Roy MD, the Communities of Practice fellows include: Nardeen Dawood , Riya Sawhney, Samir Seshadri.

Ongoing Projects and Key Achievemts

1.)