Lessons from 19 Years of a Pediatric Heart Surgery Volunteer Program in Jamaica: Partnership, Teamwork, and Sustainability

Infographic · Dec 2025 · 1 min read

In brief

A 19-year pediatric cardiac surgery volunteer program in Jamaica successfully transitioned surgical leadership from visiting to local surgeons through sustained partnership. Over 142 operations on 137 patients, the program achieved 3.5% operative mortality while progressively transferring case responsibility, demonstrating effective capacity building in resource-limited settings.

Written by the GCMD Library team from the infographic.

The image presents four sequential medical illustrations arranged in a 2x2 grid, each showing a sagittal view of the pediatric pelvis and rectum. The illustrations use soft colors with pink/peach tones for tissue, blue for surgical instruments, and yellow highlighting for anatomical landmarks. Each panel depicts a progressive surgical step with arrows and anatomical markers.

Sanjhai L Ramdeen, Sherard G H Little, Sharonne Forrester, Cleopatra Patterson, Tamra Tomlinson Morris, David S Cooper, David F Vener, Lindsey B Justice, Wendy E Redmer, Katie Hoag, Kayla V Lucas, Douglas J Walker, Donna E McDonald, LeeAnn Hewitt, Sarah Sukumar, Jennifer Carapellucci, J Blaine John, Frank G Scholl, Vinay Badhwar, Melanie A Edwards, Jeffrey Phillip Jacobs

Background: The purpose of this analysis was to review our 19-year experience (2006-2024) of a pediatric cardiac surgery volunteer program in Jamaica and to examine the transition of surgical responsibility to the local team, case complexity, and Operative Mortality.

Methods: This was a retrospective study with a prospectively maintained database. Data points included diagnosis, procedure, surgeon, assistant, patient age, weight, sex, postoperative complications, and Operative Mortality.

Results: A total of 142 index pediatric cardiac operations were performed on 137 patients. The mean age was 5.2 years (SD ± 5.1 years), with a range from 0 days to 16.9 years. The mean patient weight was 17.5 kg (SD ± 14.6 kg), with a range of 2.2 to 62 kg; 47.7% (n = 52) of patients were male and 52.3% (n = 57) were female. Operative complexity varied during the course of the 14 mission trips. There was a 5-year pause in mission trips (2018-2022), largely due to COVID-19. During the course of 13 operative mission trips in 18 years (2007-2024), the primary surgeon transitioned from the visiting surgeon to the local surgeon. In 2007 and 2008, 100% of cases were performed by visiting surgeons, whereas in 2024, only 33% of cases were performed by the visiting surgeons; 5.6% (n = 8/142) of patients had postoperative mediastinal reexplorations, with 1 patient having 2 reexplorations. Operative Mortality was 5 of 142 (3.5%).

Conclusions: A 19-year collaboration between the local Jamaican team and the visiting team, based on partnership, teamwork, and sustainability, allowed gradual and safe transition of surgical leadership to the local Jamaican team.

The text in the image