Global Surgery and Anesthesia Manual: Providing Care in Resource-limited Settings

Highly Commended, BMA Medical Book Awards 2015

In 2008, Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim described global surgery as the "neglected stepchild" of healthcare, and now leaders from around the world are working to redefine it as a human right through the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. In order to help advance global surgery and anesthesia as a public health intervention, providers require a practical, hands-on manual to train and educate them to provide safe and effective surgery and anesthesia in resource-limited settings. In an effort to respond to that need, over 140 clinicians from high-, low-, and middle-income countries collaborated to create the Global Surgery and Anesthesia Manual: Providing Care in Resource-Limited Settings.

This guide provides in-depth instruction on epidemiology and ethics surrounding surgical services, and on anesthesia, perioperative care, trauma surgery, and non-trauma surgery. With contributions from a group of culturally and academically diverse clinicians, each chapter is enriched by at least one commentary from a surgeon or anesthesia provider in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC) who shares first-hand perspectives on the realities and complexities of providing surgical care in these settings with limited resources.

The book will serve as a core reference for surgeons and anesthesiologists at all levels interested in global surgery. It will assist those working in LMICs who are confronted with surgical problems that they are not routinely exposed to in their traditional practice. Filled with expert guidance, decision-making algorithms, and treatment options, it will also serve as an invaluable text for trainees in LMICs as it covers the majority of surgical disease processes that would be encountered in such settings.