Service on short-term surgical projects in LMICs (Low-Middle Income Countries), typically called “missions”, is an experience common to our membership. The wish to improve perioperative care during missions has fostered several SPACIES projects.

A manuscript published in Anesthesia & Analgesia in 2002 (http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/content/95/2/336.long) titled “Pediatric Anesthesia for Voluntary Services Abroad”, was produced by SPACIES and serves as a valuable resource for anyone providing patient care in this unique setting. Starting in 2008, SPACIES was actively involved in production of guidelines for high quality perioperative care during plastic surgical missions, working together with Volunteers in Plastic Surgery (VIPS), a committee associated with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. That effort culminated in guidelines that reside at the VIPS website (http://www.thepsf.org/humanitarian/volunteers-in-plastic-surgery), and eventually in a more inclusive set of guidelines published in Anesthesia & Analgesia in 2011 (http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/content/112/1/183.long).