Synopsis:
Surgery is essential for improving a nation’s health, but it has been under-recognised in global public health initiatives. In 2015, three important events highlighted this: The World Bank cost-effectiveness analysis of surgery and anaesthesia, the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, and the World Health Assembly resolution on Safe Surgery and Anaesthesia. A “global anaesthesia crisis” – the gap in access to safe anaesthesia in many low and middle income countries – is a barrier to advancing surgery.
Dr McQueen will discuss the factors that limit access to anaesthesia and patient safety in many countries. Improving anaesthesia education is central to closing the anaesthesia gap and to achieving the related goals of best outcomes and safety. Dr McQueen’s presentation will focus on solutions for the global anaesthesia crisis including appropriate education strategies for advancing anaesthesia education in LMICs, and processes for benchmarking the programs implemented.
Speaker:
Dr Kelly McQueen is a Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Surgery at Vanderbilt University. She is the founder and the Inaugural President of the Alliance for Surgery and Anesthesia Presence, an integrated society of the International Surgical Society. Kelly is the Founder and President of The Global Surgical Consortium, a public charity committed to improving safe anaesthesia and surgery in low-income countries. She serves on the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesia Publications Committee. Previously Dr McQueen has also served as the President of the Arizona Society of Anesthesiologists, and the Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Global Humanitarian Outreach.
Kelly has volunteered for more than 25 years for a number of humanitarian organizations including the American Society of Anesthesiology’s Overseas Teaching Program, Operation Smile and Doctors without Borders. She currently conducts research in low-income countries assessing anaesthesia and surgical infrastructure, the global burden of pain, perioperative mortality rates and patient safety. In 2005 Colorado College honoured Dr McQueen with the Benezet Lifetime Achievement Award for her humanitarian work. In 2010, the International College of Surgeons presented her with the Surgical Volunteerism and Humanitarian Award. In 2011, she received the Arizona Medical Association Humanitarian of the Year Award. In 2016, the University of Vermont, College of Medicine honoured her with a Service to Medicine and Community Award, and in 2017 she was honoured with the American Society of Anesthesiologists Nicholas M Greene Award for Outstanding Humanitarian Service.