Measuring the Long-Term Impact of Education on Cleft-Focused Surgical Programs in Africa

BACKGROUND: There is limited research about the long-term impact of non-governmental organization (NGO) activities on patient care, specifically education-focused activities that trainees incorporate into their clinical practice. Operation Smile (OS) monitors the number of patients that directly receive care during surgical programs, but quantifying the additional patients that benefit outside of programmatic activity has yet to be researched. Our objective was to measure the indirect number of patients impacted by education provided on short-term surgical programs conducted in Africa. METHODS: A survey was administered to medical trainees in educational surgical programs. This survey asked how many patients with and without cleft they see annually and what percent would benefit from their OS training. RESULTS: Between March 2024 and December 2024, 162 trainees were surveyed from 13 countries on 8 programs in Africa. Surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and pediatricians use OS training to benefit on average 27, 9, 33, and 4 patients with cleft per year, and 469, 502, 835, and 1152 non-cleft patients per year, respectively. Training one healthcare provider can indirectly impact 3033 patients per year. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that OS training can benefit both patients with and without cleft, improving surgical care overall. This study can serve as a framework for measuring the long-term impact of NGOs that can assist with both patient care and capacity building.