Medical Capacity Building

Mercy Ships believes in transformational development, especially in the healthcare systems of our host countries. The vision of Medical Capacity Building is to support and strengthen the surgical health system from grassroots to Government in the most impactful way, a vision that will be carried out by providing high quality medical training programs and quality improvement initiatives which include courses and mentoring in the areas of Anesthesia, Surgeon mentoring, Surgical Nursing – Ward and OR, Biomedical, Sterile Processing, Palliative Care, Clubfoot and Nutritional Agriculture (Food for Life).

Mercy Ships defines healthcare education as “the impartation of knowledge, skills, and a professional attitude in individuals to affect transformational development in Mercy Ships target region.”  The three types of Mercy Ships Healthcare Education projects are mentoring, courses, and observation.

Mercy Ships mentoring projects are individually tailored to the needs of the project’s participant.  The instructor may follow a set curriculum, but will modify the topics as needed based on the trainee’s skill level and knowledge.  Once the potential participants are identified, the instructors visit the local hospital to gain a better understanding of the participant’s work environment.  Generally, most of the instruction takes place onboard the ship.  After completing the objectives of the ship-based portion of the project, the instructor will return to the local hospital to help the participant adjust the material to their work setting.

Medical Capacity Building also provide targeted donations and targeted Infrastructure projects, support the Government to influence policy development such as implementation of WHO Safe Surgical Checklist and National Surgical Plans, and data collection for use in research and impact evaluation.

We believe we have been called to support and strengthen local surgical capacity and to meaningfully impact the 5 billion people in the world who lack access to safe, timely and affordable surgical care. We want to join the efforts around the world to transform surgery globally. We believe that when you access the power of Heaven, nothing is impossible.