The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery
Improving surgical outcomes through collaborative research
The GlobalSurg Collaborative was established to represent practicing surgeons from all around the world. We conduct collaborative international research into surgical outcomes by fostering local, national and international research networks. The GlobalSurg network now includes over 5000 clinicians in more than 100 countries. The ethos is inclusive and collaborative: our international cohort studies are open to all collaborators, including medical students, clinical officers, doctors, nurses and researchers. Any hospital, anywhere in the world, treating patients that meet study inclusion criteria are eligible to take part.
Our international cohort studies are relevant, prospectively-run, and high quality. We aim to give grass-root surgeons the opportunity to participate in major research projects. Each study is designed to ensure easy delivery by local surgeons and researchers, and will not require any additional resources or funding.
Working in teams of up to 3, collaborators collect data on their own patients for a defined period of time, usually 2 or 4 weeks within the study timeframe, and submit to our secure, online database. Every researcher who contributes data into a cohort study will be a Pubmed-citable collaborator on all publications arising from each study; which will be published under one main name – GlobalSurg – to represent our group effort. See our publications page for more information.
Through three international cohort studies, GlobalSurg collaborators have collected data on >40,000 patients in more than 80 countries examining outcomes after emergency abdominal surgery (GlobalSurg 1), surgical site infection rates (GlobalSurg 2) and outcomes after surgery for breast, gastric and colon cancer patients (GlobalSurg 3).
Watch a short video about the work of GlobalSurg
Improving surgical outcomes through collaborative research
NURSING NETWORK
Outcome of surgery is not dependent solely on surgeons skills but on the completeness of the Surgical Nursing competence & compassionate care.
The global nursing workforce is made up of approximately 27.9 million men and women, accounting for almost 50% of the global health workforce.
GECKO
The GECKO study (GlobalSurg-4) will be a worldwide collaborative study, from the Global Surgery network. It will be disseminated via contacts from the NIHR Global Surgery unit and leading emergency general surgery and specialist organisations and will allow contemporaneous data collection on the performance and outcomes of cholecystectomy.
VISIT THE GLOBALSEARCH RESEARCH PAGES:
GlobalSurg I aimed to identify variation in outcome of emergency intra-abdominal surgery across international settings in order to determine whether globally relevant quality improvement strategies are needed within acute surgical units.
GlobalSurg 2 aimed to determine worldwide surgical site infection (SSI) rates following gastrointestinal surgery. The primary outcome measure for the study was 30 day surgical site infection rate.
Quality and outcomes after global cancer surgery: a prospective, international cohort study. The aim is to determine variation in quality of cancer surgery worldwide. Any hospital, any where, performing surgery for breast, gastric or colon cancer can participate.
Bringing together surgeons, researchers and policy makers to set the local research agenda according to patient need in LMIC and ensuring all patients have the opportunity to take part in our research.