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Open research questions in Global Health and Surgery

32 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 462 Global Health and Surgery papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • To strengthen orthopedic care in Egypt, the following pri- orities are proposed: • Expand orthopedic and rehabilitation infrastructure in underserved regions. • Improve physician retention through competitive remu- neration, career development pathways, and balanced medico-legal frameworks. • Promote consistent implementation of national clinical practice guidelines across all sectors. • Establish national registries for trauma, arthroplasty, and osteoporosis to support data-driven policy and quality improvement. • Strengthen preventive strategies, including road traffic injury prevention, osteoporosis screening, and fall pre- vention programs. • Enhance infection control through adoption of stand- ardized perioperative protocols and outcome monitor- ing.

    Egypt: The Current Landscape and Systemic Challenges of Orthopaedic Care · 2026 · DOI

  • Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made: 1. The preoperative assessment should be viewed by the members of the perioperative team not only as a permission to proceed with surgery but also as a management of the transitions of patient care during the perioperative experience. 2. Peri-operative nurses should always ensure they portray friendly, professional, hospitable attitude towards their patients. 3. Peri-operative counselling should be done in such a way that the patients understand the information passed to them. UKR Journal of Medicine and Medical Research (UKRJMMR). Published by UKR Publisher 59 anxiety — does anxiety level the afternoon before the surgery predict anxiety level just before surgery? Anesthesiology. 67: 595–9. 13. Loke, J. C. F., Lee, K. K., & Lee, D. T. F. (2015). Nursing education in a technologized and cost- constrained healthcare environment. Nurse education today, 35(3), 475-477. 14. Lymn, J. S., & Mostyn, A. (2008). Reduction in pharmacology knowledge and understanding in pre-registration nursing students. Nurse education today, 28(3), 353-359. 15. Mayo Clinic Staff (2019). Chronic stress can wreak havoc on your mind and body. Take steps to control your stress. 16. Sally, M. (2020). Preoperative Education. https://www.ausmed. com/cpd/educator/sally 17. Sara L., & Timothy J. L. (2020). Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/authors/ 18. Sara, L. (2020). Tomophobia: When the Fear of Surgery and Other Medical Procedures Becomes a Healthline, www.healthline.com/authors/sara-lindberg. Phobia.

    Outcome of Perioperative Pre-Visit on Surgical Patients in University of Port- Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State · 2026 · DOI

  • Based on the synthesis and conclusions of this review, we propose the following recommendations to address the systemic gaps in managing the withdrawal phase of international humanitarian medical missions. Translating ethical awareness into operational behavior requires developing and adopting decision-support tools. A useful lens for this is the concept of an “ethics of the temporary," which encourages field actors to frame their interventions not as standalone actions but as inherently transitional and time-bound endeavors. This perspective fosters humility and reflexivity (Eckenwiler et al. 2023). Practical instruments also exist to guide this process. The Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) checklists, promoted by the IASC and embedded in the Sphere Handbook, offer concrete metrics for inclusion and communication with host communities (Sphere Association 2018). Additionally, the WHO's 2011 guidance on medical device donations recommends a self-audit mechanism before any transfer, ensuring alignment with local standards (World Health Organization 2011). Furthermore, case studies on the planned decommissioning of medical facilities in other contexts show that such structured processes are both feasible and effective (Cheek et al. 2021). Integrating these tools into the three-phase operational framework detailed below can reduce unintended harm and promote a principled exit. The following recommendations are intended as a modular, principle-based framework rather than a rigid sequential template. Their application should be adapted to the legal context, emergency type, national authority preferences, donor-country requirements, and the nature of the assets involved. Not all modules will be relevant in every deployment. Rather, they are intended to support context-sensitive decision-making while preserving core principles of national ownership, continuity, accountability, sustainability, and responsible withdrawal in line with the adopted EMT 2030 strategy (Emergency Medical Teams 2030 stategy 2023). Importantly, some of the measures proposed belowparticularly post-mission follow-up, or extended partnership-based transition- may exceed the standard surge remit of many EMTs and carry additional staffing, financial, and logistical implications. These should therefore be understood as context-dependent options rather than universal requirements. Their feasibility depends on available funding, agreed national arrangements, and the extent to which sustained engagement is compatible with the EMT’s mandate and deployment model.

    Managing medical assets post-deployment: a critical review of equipment leave-behind and retrieval in international EMT operations · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could consult stakeholders involved with USAID programming across multiple levels of the health system in Zambia to better understand the link between defunding and health system impacts.

    The perceived impacts of United States foreign development assistance reductions on health system building blocks at healthcare facilities in Zambia: A mixed-methods study · 2026 · DOI

  • The study did not verify whether reported changes were directly attributable to USAID program cuts, nor did it collect longitudinal data to compare conditions before and after the cuts.

    The perceived impacts of United States foreign development assistance reductions on health system building blocks at healthcare facilities in Zambia: A mixed-methods study · 2026 · DOI

  • The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a paradigm shift in the practice of GEM, identifying a previously underrecognized potential to both strengthen partnerships and increase accessibility.

    COVID‐19 Pandemic Prompts a Paradigm Shift in Global Emergency Medicine: Multidirectional Education and Remote Collaboration · 2020 · DOI

  • The paper reports perceived benefits such as improved diagnostic skills, cultural sensitivity, and clinical competence, but lacks mention of objective validation measures or long-term follow-up data to confirm these self-reported improvements.

    Impact of global medical service trips on physician careers · 2017 · DOI

  • Despite the staggering number of amputations caused by modern warfare, the intersection of disability, biopolitics, and international relations remains largely under researched.

    Phantom Sovereignty: Medical Imperialism and the Geopolitics Behind Prosthetics · 2026 · DOI

  • No discussion of how proposed reforms (reaffirming altruism, empathy, and healing) could be scaled across diverse healthcare systems with different economic and organizational structures.

    Medicine at a Crossroad · 2025 · DOI

  • The paper identifies that physicians must lead structural reforms but provides no guidance on how physician leadership can operationally implement changes to healthcare system design.

    Medicine at a Crossroad · 2025 · DOI

  • The relationship between technology/capitalism and reduced humaneness in medicine is presented as a contradiction requiring confrontation, but lacks theoretical frameworks explaining this relationship.

    Medicine at a Crossroad · 2025 · DOI

  • The paper calls for structural reforms prioritizing integrity, equity, and humanistic foundations in medicine, but does not propose concrete methodologies or implementation strategies for achieving these reforms.

    Medicine at a Crossroad · 2025 · DOI

  • The mechanisms by which fee-for-service models specifically incentivize overuse and contribute to antibiotic resistance, opioid dependency, and unnecessary surgeries are asserted but not empirically demonstrated.

    Medicine at a Crossroad · 2025 · DOI

  • Finally, only five studies pertaining to anaesthetic task-shifting across all country settings answer the research question with conflicting results, making it difficult to draw conclusions on the quality of non-physician anaesthetic care.

    Assessing the impact of anaesthetic and surgical task-shifting globally: a systematic literature review · 2023 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on developing specific measures for assessing paediatric surgical access, delivery and outcomes and on clarifying how limited surgical access in the poorest parts of the world affects child health, especially mortality in children younger than 5 years.

    Estimates of number of children and adolescents without access to surgical care · 2019 · DOI

  • The study examined students from specific global health trip destinations (Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Mexican Yucatan Peninsula, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Thailand), but generalizability to other geographic regions and contexts is unclear.

    Impact of global medical service trips on physician careers · 2017 · DOI

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32 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 462 Global Health and Surgery papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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