Considerations for International Medical Travel

For international travel that is medical-focused, be sure you understand the ethical considerations of patient care abroad and protect yourself from situations that could jeopardize your application to a professional school. Be aware that seeking “experience abroad” can raise issues of patient safety.

To protect the safety of patients:

You should never provide care for which you have not:

  • Been sufficiently trained
  • Been given the authority to do so by the legal system of that country

You should not provide direct patient care, including testing, diagnosing, or treating patients. (The only exception is if you have reached that level of training in a health profession program and are licensed or working under the direct supervision of an appropriate licensed health professional.)

Bottom line: if you can't do it in the U.S., you shouldn't do it in another country

As you prepare for your trip, ask yourself:
  • What inadvertent harms can occur, even when one volunteers with the best of intentions?
  • What strategies can I use to maximize the benefits for patients and communities while protecting myself?
Make ethical choices for patients, and for yourself
  • Traveling abroad to provide medical care as an untrained individual is unethical and unsafe
  • Your learning experience should not cause harm or stress to patients or the hosting community
  • You may be looking to go on to medical, nursing, PT or another professional school. Admissions committees are looking for students who have engaged with patients in ethical and appropriate ways, not those who provided untrained medical care.
  • If you provide care for individuals beyond your scope of training, you may be denied admission to a professional school
Hold your program to a high ethical standard
  • Make sure they are emphasizing that you are a learner, not a care provider
  • Make sure they communicate your level of training to the on-site contacts so you are not put in the position of providing care for which you are not trained
  • Engage other students to talk as a group to the host organization and providers about appropriate tasks, then support each other in refusing inappropriate requests
When abroad, avoid unethical situations
  • Make sure the providers and other employees in the volunteer setting abroad know your level of training (they may assume that if you are in college, you are in medical school)
  • Make sure that the patients understand your appropriate role
  • Talk to other students in the program about the ethical, legal, and safety issues of providing patient care without training
Develop important global health competencies
  • Ask your program what cultural integration tools they provide to increase your cross-cultural skills
  • Learn as much as you can about the broader context of the health and social systems that exist in your host country and community
  • Appreciate the culture of the country and community you are visiting and the differences
  • Avoid negative comparisons and inaccurate assumptions about the quality of care in the country you are visiting, based on the physical structure, available technology, and other factors that may be irrelevant
Documenting your experience
  • Avoid posting photos on social media of the patients you are working with (this is a privacy violation)
  • Instead, journaling can be a very powerful way to reinforce observations and discoveries. Writing a blog (with appropriate photos) allows you to capture what you are experiencing so you can share it with folks back home, and have it as a future resource.

Learn more: We encourage you to complete the online workshop.

*Much of this material is provided by the . We appreciate their work and contributions to your education.