PATIENT PERCEPTIONS OF BENEFITS RECEIVED DURING SHORT-TERM GLOBAL HEALTH TRIPS.

Global health short-term medical mission trips to San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic have been provided by the 1st, 2nd year medical students and pharmacy students from the University of Florida for the past 15 years. The trip is named DR SALUD (Dominican Republic Health). These trips provide basic preventive medical and minor surgical care to patients in underserved communities in rural areas of San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic. There are currently few studies available that examine the recipients perceptions of these programs. This study was done to investigate the perceptions of the recipient patients on the benefit they receive from the services of University of Florida students during the short ?term medical mission trip. A survey containing 6 questions aimed to understand the perception of the recipients during the short-term global health trips was administered and assessed. Our findings revealed nearly all of the patients, 98.9% felt that participating in the UF DR Salud was beneficial to their health. Furthermore, 99.4% of patients plan to return next year.