A qualitative narrative review of protocols for women’s health on short-term medical missions in Latin America and the Caribbean

BACKGROUND: Women’s health conditions are commonly encountered on short-term medical missions (STMMs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. There have been no previous attempts to describe women’s health protocols used by volunteer clinicians. This qualitative study aimed to describe areas of agreement between unpublished women’s health protocols from different North American STMM organizations and assess their concordance with published WHO guidelines. METHODS: A systematic web search was used to identify North American STMM sending organizations. Clinical protocols were downloaded from their websites and organizations were contacted to request protocols that were not published online. The protocols obtained were summarized, analysed thematically and compared to existing WHO guidelines. RESULTS: Of 225 organizations contacted, 112 (49.8%) responded and 31 of these (27.7%) had clinical protocols, of which 20 were obtained and analysed. Nine (45%) discussed sexually transmitted infections, six (30%) discussed pelvic inflammatory disease, two (10%) discussed prenatal care and two (10%) discussed menstrual disorders. None were the product of systematic literature searches and most were not referenced. CONCLUSIONS: To avoid ineffective treatment and related harms to women, volunteer clinicians would benefit from the adaptation and distribution of guidelines for STMMs that are based on existing WHO guidance and acceptable to clinicians, patients and organizations.