Duvall, Julia B.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Health care providers' exposure to global surgical disparities is limited in current nursing and/or medical school curricula. For instance, global health is often associated with infectious diseases or maternal health without acknowledging the growing need for surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We propose an international virtual hackathon based on neurosurgical patient cases in under-resourced settings as an educational tool to bring awareness to global surgical disparities and develop relationships among trainees in different countries. METHODS: Participants were recruited through email listservs, a social media campaign, and prize offerings. A 3-day virtual hackathon event was administered, which included workshops, mentorship, keynote panels, and pitch presentations to judges. Participants were presented with real patient cases and directed to solve a barrier to their care. Surveys assessed participants' backgrounds and event experience. The hackathon was executed through Zoom at Harvard Innovation Lab in Boston, MA, on March 25 to 27, 2022. Participants included medical students, with additional participants from business, engineering, or current health care workers. RESULTS: Three hundred seven applications were submitted for 100 spots. Participants included medical students, physicians, nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs, and undergraduates representing 25 countries and 82 cities. Fifty-one participants previously met a neurosurgeon, while 39 previously met a global health expert, with no difference between LMIC and high-income countries' respondents. Teams spent an average of 2.75 hours working with mentors, and 88% of postevent respondents said the event was “very” or “extremely conducive” to networking. Projects fell into 4 categories: access, language barriers, education and training, and resources. The winning team, which was interdisciplinary and international, developed an application that analyzes patient anatomy while performing physical therapy to facilitate remote care and clinical decision-making. CONCLUSION: An international virtual hackathon can be an educational tool to increase innovative ideas to address surgical disparities in LMICs and establish early collaborative relationships with medical trainees from different countries.

OBJECTIVE The rates of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority (UREM) students successfully matching into neurosurgical residency are extremely low and do not reflect the makeup of the general population. As of 2019, only 17.5% of neurosurgical residents in the United States were women, 4.95% were Black or African American, and 7.2% were Hispanic or Latinx. Earlier recruitment of UREM students will help to diversify the neurosurgical workforce. Therefore, the authors developed a virtual educational event for undergraduate students entitled "Future Leaders in Neurosurgery Symposium for Underrepresented Students’’ (FLNSUS). The primary objectives of the FLNSUS were to expose attendees to 1) neurosurgeons from diverse gender, racial, and ethnic backgrounds; 2) neurosurgical research; 3) opportunities for neurosurgical mentorship; and 4) information about life as a neurosurgeon. The authors hypothesized that the FLNSUS would increase student self-confidence, provide exposure to the specialty, and reduce perceived barriers to a neurosurgical career. METHODS To measure the change in participant perceptions of neurosurgery, pre- and postsymposium surveys were administered to attendees. Of the 269 participants who completed the presymposium survey, 250 participated in the virtual event and 124 completed the postsymposium survey. Paired pre- and postsurvey responses were used for analysis, yielding a response rate of 46%. To assess the impact of participant perceptions of neurosurgery as a field, pre- and postsurvey responses to questions were compared. The change in response was analyzed, and a nonparametric sign test was performed to check for significant differences. RESULTS According to the sign test, applicants showed increased familiarity with the field (p < 0.001), increased confidence in their abilities to become neurosurgeons (p = 0.014), and increased exposure to neurosurgeons from diverse gender, racial, and ethnic backgrounds (p < 0.001 for all categories). CONCLUSIONS These results reflect a significant improvement in student perceptions of neurosurgery and suggest that symposiums like the FLNSUS may promote further diversification of the field. The authors anticipate that events promoting diversity in neurosurgery will lead to a more equitable workforce that will ultimately translate to enhanced research productivity, cultural humility, and patient-centered care in neurosurgery.