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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

ANC Centenary Dialogue reflects on past leadership
2011-10-12

 

Making their mark at the ANC Centenary Dialogue were, from left to right: Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo, Senior Professor: Centre for Africa Studies (UFS); Dr Adekeye Adebajo, Director: Centre for Conflict Resolution (Cape Town); and Prof.  E C Ejiogu, Senior Researcher: Centre for Africa Studies (UFS). 

The Centre for Africa Studies at our university recently hosted its ANC Centenary Dialogue at the Bloemfontein Campus. Keynote speaker, Dr Adekeye Adebajo, delivered a paper titled Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, and the ANC’s Footprint in Africa. The lecture focused on two of South Africa’s democratically-elected presidents.

Mr Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s first democratically-elected president. This Nobel Peace Laureate played a prophetic leadership role in Africa in 1993. He was inspired by Mr Mahatma Gandhi’s tactics of ‘passive resistance’, which played a role in the ANC’s Defiance Campaign.
 
Mr Mandela’s visit to other African countries gave him insights into continental diplomacy and the tactics of other liberation movements. “The ANC used Madiba to embody the face of the struggle. He emerged from prison without any bitterness towards his enemies. He tirelessly promoted national reconciliation,” said Dr Adebajo.
 
Unlike other post-independence ‘Founding Fathers’, Mr Mandela bowed out gracefully at the end of his first presidential term in 1999, setting a standard for future African leaders aspiring to greatness. “Mr Mandela’s lasting legacies are his efforts at promoting national and international peacemaking,” elaborated Dr Adebajo.
 
Mr Thabo Mbeki challenged Africans to discover a sense of their own self-confidence after centuries of slavery and colonialism. Under his foreign policy, South Africa established solid credentials to become Africa’s leading power. He sought multilateral solutions to resolve regional conflicts. Mr Mbeki also sent peacekeepers abroad and increased South Africa’s credibility as a major geostrategic player in Africa.
 
Many question whether Mr Mbeki’s heirs, President Jacob Zuma and beyond, will maintain the same level of commitment to the continent that he demonstrated. Mr Mbeki has bequeathed this foreign policy legacy to his successors. “These very different ANC leaders have left a heavy African footprint on the sands of time,” concluded Dr Adebajo.

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