The Need for Standardized Medical Mission Evaluation Criteria: A Systematic Review and Look at Past Missions

Abstract

Background: Many civilian and military global health missions occur every year. There is not only a scarcity of documentation of medical missions, but there is also a lack of standardized evaluation criteria for these missions. In order to create standardized evaluation criteria, it is first necessary to compile currently used criteria. Objective: The objective of this article is to determine what criteria are currently being used to evaluate global health medical missions. This will provide a starting point from which standardized evaluation criteria can be created. Methods: This article is a systematic review of the literature. Articles were compiled through literature searches completed in 2016, sources were chosen based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and were evaluated based on their medical mission evaluation criteria. Findings: 24 articles fit within the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among these 24 articles, there were 17 different evaluation criteria identified. The 2 most commonly used criteria were official mission reports (including the location, size, duration and number of patients treated on the mission) and patient data (including patient risk factors, patient labs, procedures and outcomes). Conclusion: This review demonstrates that there is a need for better documentation and a need for consensus about the most important medical mission evaluation criteria, which in turn can be used to create standardized medical mission evaluation criteria. Based on the criteria compiled in this review, we present the M.D. NELSON standardized medical mission evaluation criteria, which include general medical mission concepts as well as specific evaluation criteria.