Continuum of Global Surgical Education for Women’s Health Adrian Balica, MD and Rebecca Barnett, MD Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ PURPOSE International education is critical to the development of advanced surgical techniques, including laparoscopic and minimally invasive procedures The principal author has established a partnership with gynecologic surgeons from Romania to advance education in Romania These advances in technologic methods are vital in the health care field DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION In many countries of the world, surgery is done through large incisions since laparoscopic equipment is not available As medical centers across the globe obtain these types of surgical equipment, programs such as the one described will be critical to their implementation It was obvious that the team of surgeons from the US and Brazil, who had a great deal of experience in using these advanced technologies were able to not only share important key points, but also answer subtleties that come with surgical experience. METHODS Our group was an international team of gynecologic surgeons from both of the US coasts and Brazil who traveled to Romania to provide education to health care teams there on minimally invasive gynecologic techniques The team met at two sites: Timisoara and Arad At each site the teams provided lectures, hand on training with simulators and mentorship to learners and attendings Over 600 attendees benefited from the teaching and educational programs provided by this team BACKGROUND Minimally Invasive Surgery benefits patients and contributes substantially to health care savings To do this most effectively, it is important that this knowledge be shared among the global medical community One of the global health care missions of this educational program involved hands on teaching and training in Romania to surgeons and learners there as well as identifying problems and addressing research questions RESULTS At both sites, templates of surgical care were updated such that more advanced procedures would be available to female patients Simulation also helped many of the surgeons at those sites review or learn proper surgical techniques to perform minimally invasive surgery The team will continue to provide this type of education and support to Romanian physicians and the next medical trip will be in 2016 REFERENCES Reznick RK, MacRae H. Teaching Surgical Skills — Changes in the Wind, N Engl J Med 2006; 355:2664-2669December 21, 2006DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra054785 Einarsson JI, Matteson KA, Schulkin J, Chavan NR, Sangi-Haghpeykar H. Minimally Invasive Hysterectomies—A Survey on Attitudes and Barriers among Practicing Gynecologists. J Min Invasive Gynecol 2010;17 (2):167-175