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The following is a summary of “Global health experience of staff working in UK emergency care: a reflexive thematic analysis,” published in the March 2025 issue of Emergency Medicine Journal by Webb et al. 

Practitioners worldwide increasingly recognize the benefits of practicing emergency medicine across diverse countries and healthcare settings.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the role of global health (GH) experience among emergency care practitioners and its connection to the National Health Service and UK practice.  

They carried out anonymized semi structured interviews between August and November 2022 with a purposive sample of emergency care practitioners in the UK who had prior GH experience. Reflexive thematic analysis was applied to examine and present their insights in this area.  

The results showed that emergency care was well suited to contribute to GH settings. Practitioners identified that this involvement provided benefits at both individual and healthcare system levels. However, the existing structure of emergency care training in the UK created barriers that limited the full advantages of these experiences.  

Investigators concluded that readily accessible funding, networks, mentorship, and support from training program leadership were identified as ways to improve the quality and frequency of meaningful GH involvement. 

Source: emj.bmj.com/content/early/2025/03/25/emermed-2023-213823