Helen Louise Ackers

Healthcare, frugal innovation, and professional voluntarism : a cost-benefit analysis

This book investigates what international placements of healthcare employees in low resource settings add to the UK workforce and the efficacy of its national health system. The authors present empirical data collected from a volunteer deployment project in Uganda focused on reducing maternal and new-born mortality and discuss the learning and experiential outcomes for UK health care professionals acting as long term volunteers in low resource settings. They also develop a model for structured placement that offers optimal learning and experiential outcomes and minimizes risk, while shedding new light on the role that international placements play as part of continuing professional development both in the UK and in other sending countries.

Introduction: Why Ethical Educational Placements?

This introductory chapter opens with a discussion of the processes of internationalisation and globalisation that frame the growth in interest in educational placements. It situates student mobility within this wider context before examining the meaning of the term ‘elective’ and examining the ethical issues that such placements raise.

Managing Reciprocity: No Harm Approaches to International Educational Placements

This final chapter summarises some of the key messages discussed in previous chapters to consider the meaning of ethics in the context of educational placements. It identifies some of the challenges associated with the commodification of placements through volunteer tourism distinguishing these from ‘Fair Trade Learning’ founded on reciprocity.

International Mobility and Learning in the UK National Health Service

This chapter sets the study of international placements for healthcare professionals in the wider context of knowledge mobilisation characterising mobile health workers as knowledge brokers. It then discusses the concept of ‘volunteer’ and how appropriate this term is to the study of placement learning. The term ‘professional volunteer’ is proposed as a compromise. Two key contextual dimensions are then outlined: first, global health and the needs of low-resource settings. Secondly, the challenges facing a resource constrained UK National Health Service.

Internationalisation and Placement Activity in the UK National Health Service

This chapter presents and discusses the findings from a survey conducted in the North West of England designed to gauge overall patterns of international exposure amongst all cadres of staff in the UK’s National Health Service.

The Ethical Educational Placement Project

This chapter introduces the reader to the Ethical Educational Placement (EEP) project, beginning with the background and its development. We then outline the project concept and detail its operation in terms of: how risk was assessed; how student recruitment and selection was organised; placement locations and student cohorts; placement structures and activities in Uganda and India; placement costs and student contributions; and project evaluation.

Managing Costs and Risks

This chapter identifies some of the ‘costs’ associated with health worker placements in low-resource settings; it begins with a discussion of the costs of covering staff time during placements and some of the fears surrounding skills ‘wastage’ before highlighting risk areas associated with such placements.

Student Learning on Ethical Educational Placements

This chapter focuses on what students learn from educational placements in low resource settings. The term ‘learning’ is used quite fluidly to embrace wider experiential learning – what students often describe as ‘life changing’ or ‘transformational’ impacts (Hudson and Inkson 2006) and more specific curriculum or employment relevant skills. We draw on reviewed literature, and qualitative data generated before, during and after placements, with students, placement leads at sending universities, long-term volunteer supervisors and educationalists/health workers in the host settings. The qualitative findings are supplemented with quantitative data gathered via an online student survey.

The ethics of educational healthcare placements in low and middle income countries : first do no harm?

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Conclusions: Towards a Model for Sustainable Professional Volunteering

price are net prices, subject to local VAT. Prices indicated with * include VAT for books; the €(D) includes 7% for Germany, the €(A) includes 10% for Austria. Prices indicated with ** include VAT for electronic products; 19% for Germany, 20% for Austria. All prices exclusive of carriage charges. Prices and other details are subject to change without notice. All errors and omissions excepted. A. Ahmed, J. Ackers-Johnson, L. Ackers The Ethics of Educational Healthcare Placements in Low and Middle Income Countries