Volunteer helped RCSI, UCSF and partners around the world to map surgeons and anaesthetists in low-resource regions

Founded in 1784, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI Dublin) is the professional body for surgical training in Ireland and has evolved since into a global leader in healthcare education and research at Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Professional level. RCSI is at the forefront of pioneering healthcare research and innovation, addressing the key health and wellness challenges of our time and improving patient outcomes. 

An estimated 17 million deaths each year are from conditions which can be treated with surgical care – and many of these deaths could be prevented if quality surgical care can be made available around the globe. To expand access to surgical care one needs to understand, map and track the surgeon and anaesthetist workforce in low-resource settings worldwide – to catalyze support for investment in surgical training and service delivery and to enable strategic decision-making.

An initiative started by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (the Partner Agencies) sought help from GISCorps to bring together surgeon and anesthesiologist workforce data from around the world and display it on a single platform. Hilary Kauth, a GISCorps volunteer from Montana, was selected to create and deploy the Global Surgery and Anesthesia Workforce Map to catalyze support for investment in training and service delivery and to enable strategic decision-making. The goal of the project was to design a single Experience Builder application that could be updated with dynamic information and could incorporate more datasets from external partners as traction for the project increases.

An Experience Builder application was built to complete the following project objectives:

1. Create a single application hosting multiple layers and maps from various partners;
2. Configure each map to be embedded individually into external websites;
3. Allow any subject-matter expert to submit data updates, and;
4. Ensure the workforce can maintain updates.

The project began with three datasets from Partner Agencies that were converted into feature classes and published to the organizational ArcGIS Online account. Each dataset was mapped independently on different tabs allowing for customized interaction with each dataset. The Anesthetists – Global dataset contained density (per 100,000 people) for both physicians and non-physician anesthesia providers across multiple years. To toggle between layers, the buttons at the bottom of the map allow users to quickly view maps displaying different anesthesiologist layer combinations. Furthermore, the swipe widget allows users to compare trends of anesthesiologists per capita between years. The Anesthesiologists – East, Central & Southern Africa dataset already existed as an application, but the Partner Agencies wanted an easier navigable experience. A flythrough option of preset bookmarks allows users to automatically zoom through the different data resolutions while reading data descriptions at each bookmark. Each of the three maps includes a splash screen detailing metadata and a button for the main application which was an important feature since each map can be pulled out of the application and displayed as a single frame. Furthermore, the maps also include a Survey123 form allowing anyone to recommend data changes or additions.

With the completion of the application, YouTube tutorials of basic application updates and functionality were created and packaged into an Experience Builder application to ensure that the Global Surgery and Anesthesia Workforce team can maintain the application as new data or dataset are submitted through Survey123.

Project completed.