Obviously I'm not an adcom, but I have years of experience living in the developing world and with international development. My spouse still works for a large(ish) development NGO.
Does Engineers Without Borders qualify? They're using their expertise in engineering to help locals.
Whole different animal. That would be a great use of your skills and carries the same reputation of the organizations mentioned above. Keep in mind, they usually require a longer commitment (I think 6 months).
Those are great organizations which require long-term commitments that many people may not be able to do. Additionally DWB (or MSF if you speak Spanish) do not accept anyone but physicians for their trips which require a minimum 9 week commitment unless there are special, extenuating circumstances.
In some places there is no one "already there". I did a few med mission trips and many of the locations we went to were way out in the country/jungle and only saw any kind of physician every 4-6 months. There is no one "already there" providing aid.
I think there is this general mentality that global medical mission trips are bad, which in my experience is just not true. There are plenty which aren't great and are more like volunteer tourism than actually providing relief. However there are also great programs which serve communities who legitimately never receive medical attention or have ongoing presence in communities to provide continued care. Anyone interested just has to do their research on these groups to find the ones which are actually making a difference.
A few corrections here. MSF (french) does typically require longer commitments, but most of their international staff are not physicians. 47% are non-medical (logistics, WASH, security, etc) and another 30% or so are nurses. If you have useful skills they will put them to use. They just don't take people without well honed useful skills. Additionally, more than 80% of their employees are locals. This is part of why they are often held up as a standard.
The second part of your post is spot on, with the caveat that even if there isn't anyone present, sending the average pre-med isn't really an improvement. A qualified healthcare team can make a great difference.
Eh if I volunteer abroad I would be providing nursing service, which is in high demand. Just throwing that out there. And with Mercy Ships, I’d be PAYING a steep price to do so...
As an RN you bring skills and experience that are not readily available in many communities. The criticisms in this thread don't apply to you. It's more directed to college student/recent grad without any applicable training or skills spending thousands of dollars going abroad thinking they are saving the world doing work that literally anyone in the country they are going to could be trained to do just as quickly and for a fraction of the cost.
Fwiw, Mercy ships is a fantastic organization. I have friends who work there long term (both non-medical). Noone in the development community or elsewhere is going to bat a critical eye at you if you volunteer with them.
I don’t think it’s a cut or dry situation. If the goal is “those people over there get help” you have to account for those who value absolute efficiency (and the model you are pitching is the most efficient if someone accepts the questionable premise that all those travelers would do the same amount of fundraising at home)
Some people want an experience as well. It’s arguably less efficient but not at all devoid of altruism. And if we push the notion that no one can/should go on a trip we will likely deprive those areas of some help.
In the time I lived abroad, I never knew a single development worker or missionary who was happy to host a short term high school or college trip. They did it, because it made donors back home happy and potentially made new donors.
Contrast this with the optimism when Smile Train or See international came to town and it was night and day.
Still, half of the people I know who do permanent development work go exposed to it during a "useless" short term trip. It's not black and white, definitely grey.