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25 April 2018 Photo Oteng Mpete
UFS and Medtronic collaboration set to enhance cardiac
From the left: Zampieri Luigi: Medtronic; Dania Choucair: Medtronic; Peter Fuller: Medtronic; Prof Francis Petersen: UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor; Prof Gert van Zyl:Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Eline Visser: Medtronic.
A new Cardiac Simulation laboratory will be opened and hosted within the School of Biomedical Sciences’ Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit, at the University of the Free State’s Bloemfontein Campus. The new laboratory is a result of a partnership between Medtronic and UFS. 

The new laboratory will be used to enhance training for cardiothoracic, cardiology, vascular surgery, anaesthesiology and multiprofessional teams   such as doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. The establishment of the laboratory will be made possible by the generous provision of equipment for the establishment and operation of the Cardiac Simulation laboratory by Medtronic.  

Prioritising of patients at the heart of collaboration 
The development of a Cardiac Simulation laboratory at the UFS will not only benefit the training of specialists in various fields of specialisation but will also improve patient safety and reduce complication and mortality rates. The UFS is proud to be part of this initiative to train healthcare professionals to the benefit of the patients.

The Medtronic and UFS contract signing was attended by key stakeholders who included Prof Francis Smit: Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery; Prof Mathys Labuschagne: Head of the Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit; Prof Gert van Zyl: UFS Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Prof Francis Petersen: UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor. In attendance from Medtronic were Dania Choucair: Medtronic Director Clinical Research and Medical Education; Peter Fuller: Medtronic Country Director; Zampieri Luigi: Business Director   Cardiovascular Group; and Eline Visser: Business Manager   Structural Heart.

The Cardiac Simulation laboratory will make use of part task trainers, medium- and high- fidelity simulation as well as virtual-reality simulation to develop integrated interdisciplinary simulation programmes. These programmes are essential for proficiency development through deliberate practice and should become a statutory requirement for future trainees.

Objective and improved quality of training  
Standard cardiothoracic surgical training programmes are still based on the apprentice model. It implies that registrars in all programmes will attain surgical competency in addition to theoretical training fulfilling minimum statutory requirements for licensing and independent practice. It is highly dependent on surgical volumes, attitude of trainers and perceived surgical ability of the trainee. At best, it produces a mixed bag of competency levels. 

Well-designed integrated interdisciplinary simulation programmes offer an alternative that allows for deliberate practice in an organised step-wise progression model, with inbuilt assessment and feedback systems. This allows for proficiency training rather than competency training in which clear objectives can be met.

The UFS cardiothoracic programme is being designed as a hub and spoke model for South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, combining distance learning with an onsite high-fidelity simulation and assessment centre. Off-site training in crew resource management or CRM (which addresses communication, decision-making, team-building and maintenance, workload management and situational awareness management), educational theory, surgical theory and basic bench model simulation will be provided. 

Multidisciplinary streams of knowledge 
According to Profs Francis Smit and Mathys Labuschagne, the role of simulation is a dynamic process of continuous movement between theory, simulation and clinical exposure.  “We strive to create an environment where there is free flow between these different components. Registrars and students come from different educational and cultural backgrounds in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and by allowing deliberate practice for students with different needs to practice in their own time is contributing tremendously to students’ individual outcomes and development in the specialty.” 

This dynamic fulfils the needs of students with different competency levels and previous clinical exposure. Debriefing and formative assessment per session are pre-requisites for attending high-fidelity and virtual-reality simulation sessions at the Cardiac Simulation laboratory, because this kind of feedback contributes to the clinical and surgical development as well as inter-professional collaboration of the trainees. 

News Archive

Miss Deaf SA inspires UFS teachers with her life story
2009-11-26

Pictured from the left, are: K. Botshelo, Vickey Fourie (Miss Deaf SA) and A. Morake.

Vicki Fourie, Miss Deaf SA 2009 and Miss Deaf HESC, recently visited the University of the Free State to motivate aspiring Foundation Phase teachers by sharing her life story with them.

When Vicki was two years old, her parents found out that she couldn’t speak. Two possible explanations were that she had had an ear infection or speech problems. They took her to a specialist and after a brain scan they found out that Vicki had 97% hearing loss in both ears.

Hearing aids were required and Vicki’s father, Pastor Gerhard Fourie from the Christian Revival Church (CRC) enrolled her in a kindergarten school for deaf children, Carel Du Toit in Cape Town.

However, even though Carel Du Toit’s slogan is ‘Where Deaf Children Learn to Speak’, it was because of her mother’s efforts that Vicki is able to communicate effectively with hearing people today.

Bonita Fourie would sit with her child every single day and teach her how to pronounce words phonetically and how to read lips. It is because of that that Vicki is not dependent on sign language at all.

When she was seven years old, her parents enrolled her in an English A.C.E. school. Even though Vicki’s home language is Afrikaans, her parents decided to go against the norm by placing her in an English school (most deaf/hard of hearing people cannot learn a second language). Today Vicki is fluent in both languages.

“I used to think that my hearing aids are just a normal thing you put on, like using glasses for reading,” she said. “I still think that way. People always come up to me and say, ‘It’s amazing how easily you adapt to hearing people. You have no stumbling blocks or holdbacks.’

“To me it’s interesting because my reaction is always this: ‘God gave me this situation, and I have made the best of it. I’ve overcome it, and therefore I can go forward in life’. We were born not to survive, but to thrive. I detest the attitude of, ‘I’m a victim, so the world owes me something’. The world owes nobody anything! We can be victorious over our own circumstances. It is possible. My name’s meaning is testifies to this: “Vicki” comes from the word “Victory”. I was meant to be victorious, and not a victim.”

Vicki, who is now 20, has achieved so much in life. She did ballet, hip-hop, modern dancing, drama (she even went to America for her dramatic monologue and poetry recitation), and she has published over 70 magazine articles, nationally and internationally. Her dreams are to write books one day, become a TV presenter, and motivate and inspire people all over South Africa through public speaking.

When one hears this story, one cannot help but be surprised by her success. It makes you realize that anything is possible when you see the potential in a child, and then do everything in your power to develop it and draw it out. When you believe in the child that you are educating, that child will sense it and blossom like a flower.

“Courage isn’t a gift, it is a decision,” Vicki said. “There will always be things that try to hold you back. The key to working with any child is to be patient, patient, and patient! Teachers play a huge role in equipping children for the future. It is a big responsibility, but it can be done.”
 

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