Tuesday, March 1 – A beautiful morning to start the day in Thanh Hoa. The teams are starting to hit their stride. We are seeing great collaboration and information sharing among our surgeons, pediatricians, anesthesiologists and nurses as they work a busy slate of urological and maxillofacial cases. The ENT team has been working through seven cases today, mostly cleft palates, and there has been an opportunity to work side-by-side sharing ideas and procedures with our Vietnam colleagues.

The urological team had a rare epispadias case this afternoon, something which our surgeons had only seen five times in their 50 years of combined experience. It’s estimated to occur at a rate of 1 in 250,000. We were well-equipped, and working with our Vietnamese colleagues, the repair procedure went very well. During the day, anesthesiologists shared techniques on airway management and regional blocks. Pre-op and post-op nurses worked together on procedures and kept the whole system operating smoothly. The days are long, wrapping up around 8 p.m., but there has been strong engagement and support across the teams.

By Tom Fansler, CSI Board Chairman