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. 2023 Oct 5;18(10):e0287355.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287355. eCollection 2023.

Clinical spine care partnerships between high-income countries and low-and-middle-income countries: A scoping review

Hannah Lin  1 , Kristin Halvorsen  2 , Myat Thu Win  1 , Michael Yancey  1 , Nada Rbil  1 , Abhinaba Chatterjee  1 , Bridget Jivanelli  1 , Sariah Khormaee  1
Affiliations

Clinical spine care partnerships between high-income countries and low-and-middle-income countries: A scoping review

Hannah Lin et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Clinical collaboration between spine professionals in high-income countries (HICs) and low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) may provide improvements in the accessibility, efficacy, and safety of global spine care. Currently, the scope and effectiveness of these collaborations remain unclear. In this review, we describe the literature on the current state of these partnerships to provide a framework for exploring future best practices.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were queried for articles on spine-based clinical partnerships between HICs and LMICs published between 2000 and March 10, 2023. This search yielded 1528 total publications. After systematic screening, nineteen articles were included in the final review.

Results: All published partnerships involved direct clinical care and 13/19 included clinical training of local providers. Most of the published collaborations reviewed involved one of four major global outreach organizations with the majority of sites in Africa. Participants were primarily physicians and physicians-in-training. Only 5/19 studies reported needs assessments prior to starting their partnerships. Articles were split on evaluative focus, with some only evaluating clinical outcomes and some evaluating the nature of the partnership itself.

Conclusions: Published studies on spine-focused clinical partnerships between HICs and LMICs remain scarce. Those that are published often do not report needs assessments and formal metrics to evaluate the efficacy of such partnerships. Toward improving the quality of spine care globally, we recommend an increase in the quality and quantity of published studies involving clinical collaborations between HICs and LICs, with careful attention to reporting early needs assessments and evaluation strategies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The study selection flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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