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Background The principles of global surgery should be taught as a part of the core curriculum in medical schools. The need for medical students to be familiar with the topic is increasing in acceptance. There is, however, a paucity of data on how medical students are exposed to global surgery. This study aims to evaluate exposure of medical students to global surgery, awareness of the key messages of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, global surgery career aspirations and barriers to said aspirations. Methods ISOMERS was a multi-centre, online, cross-sectional survey of final year medical students globally. The questionnaire utilised a combination of Likert-scale, multiple-choice, and free text questions. Results In this study, 1593 final year medical students from 144 medical schools in 20 countries participated. The majority (n = 869/1496, 58.1%) believed global surgery to be relevant, despite 17.7% (n = 271/1535) having any exposure to global surgery. Most participants (n = 1187/1476, 80.4%) wanted additional resources on global surgery. Difficulty in providing appropriate care for patients living abroad (n = 854/1242, 68.8%) was the most common perceived barrier to a career in global surgery. Conclusions Participants believed global surgery was a relevant topic for medical students and wanted additional resources that they could access on global surgery. It is critical for medical students to become aware that global surgery is a field that aims to address inequity in surgical care not just internationally, but nationally and locally as well.

Introduction: Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has been a part of emergency medicine (EM) training for almost two decades. EM training program has a very broad and rigorous POCUS curricula which, in several cases, does not translate to routine application in clinical settings. This study therefore sought to compare the indications, utilization, barriers, and preferred POCUS educational method in a large Middle Eastern academic EM. Methodology: A validated questionnaire was emailed to 50 EM faculties between April and May 2019. Volunteer faculty members partook in a semi-structured interview to better understand the indications, current use, barriers, and preferred learning method. Responses were anonymous, and data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results: This was a mixed design study. 30/50 (60%) of faculty responded to the survey, with a mean age of 39.2 years and a mean number of years in practice, 13.1. 55% (n=28) completed POCUS training in less than five years, while 45% completed more than five years ago and 5% never completed it. Forty percent of EM physicians were trained in Africa, while 55% were qualified in Asia and 5% completed their training in Europe. The indications and frequently performed procedures were consistent with the previous research. The common barrier reported was lack of time, lack of credentialing, lack of quality assurance, and national guidelines. The majority of the faculty preferred a blended learning approach for POCUS. Conclusion: POCUS perceived barriers to its full use include time constraints, lack of national guidelines, and credentialing (awarding POCUS qualifications) of the faculty. Blended learning appears to be the preferred approach towards acquiring the knowledge and skills of POCUS.