Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
26 September 2018
The Cardiac Simulation lab in action
There’s an electric atmosphere in the operating theatre of the Faculty of Health Sciences, as Dr Taha Gwila and his team focus with intense concentration on the fleshy exposed heart beating rhythmically in the opened chest of the patient lying in front of them. The enormous demands of open-heart surgery are evident to everyone looking on. But there’s a catch. 

The patient is faceless and rubberised. The red liquid flowing in the pipes that network from the body is not blood. And the pulsating heart was beating in the body of a pig not too long ago. 

Cutting edge technology
 
This Cardiac Simulation laboratory supplied by Medtronic is the newest addition to the School of Biomedical Sciences’ clinical simulation and skills unit. 

“There’s nothing like this in Africa, and only a few in the world,” says a beaming Prof Francis Smit, Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Faculty of Health Sciences.
He explains that this new cutting edge medical technology will revolutionise the way cardiac surgeons and other health professionals are trained and assessed.

Practicing specific procedures

The simulation facilities give students with various levels of competency the opportunity to practice specific procedures in their own time and at their own pace.
“Traditionally training followed the apprentice model, where surgeons started with simple tasks and worked their way up. They assisted senior personnel and their exposure to procedures depended on the conditions presented by the patients before them,” explains Prof Smit.

The simulation technology now enables them to repeatedly practise a certain procedure without any risk to a patient. A sophisticated electronic grading system gives detailed feedback after each session, so they know in which areas to improve.  

Simulated emergencies

The system also allows trainers to create a medical emergency that the trainees then have to deal with.

“Assisting senior surgeons with high levels of competency means that in the past, trainees would often never get the chance to experience these kinds of complications during operating procedures. Now we give them a chance to build that confidence so they’ll be able to handle different situations.”  

Training hub for Africa
 
The UFS cardiothoracic programme is being designed to become a training hub for the whole of Southern Africa, combining distance learning with an on-site high-fidelity simulation and assessment centre.

“This is 100% real!” says an excited Dr Gwila after successfully completing his first simulation session. “As a Senior Registrar at the Cardiothoracic Department I’ve done similar procedures on real patients and there’s really no difference at all. Every registrar should do this before ever touching a real body.”

News Archive

Alcinda Honwana: Youth Protests Main Mechanism against Regime
2015-05-25

Prof Alcinda Honwana

"Enough is Enough!": Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa (speech) 

The Centre for Africa Studies at the UFS hosted an interdisciplinary project on the Bloemfontein Campus from 20-22 May 2015.

The project, entitled Contemporary Modes of Othering: Its Perpetuation and Resistance, looked at different perspectives, representations, and art forms of otherness, how it is perceived, and how it is resisted.

The annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture was held on Thursday evening 21 May 2015 at the CR Swart Auditorium. Guest speaker Prof Alcinda Honwana addressed the subject of ‘Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa’.

“Youth now seem able to display what they don’t want, rather than what they do want,” Honwana said in her opening remarks. “Thus, we see the young driven to the streets to protest against regimes.”
 
Honwana shed some light on recent examples of youth protests in Africa that have enjoyed global attention. Looking at the protests in Tunisia (2010), Egypt (2011), Senegal (2012), and Burkina Faso (2014), it is clear that these events in northern and western Africa have inspired others globally. Yet, Honwana stated that, despite these protests, no social economic change has been seen, and has left dissatisfaction with new governments as well.

“Once regimes fall… young activists find themselves more divided, it seems…

“Which leaves the question: Will street protests remain young people’s main mechanism to avert those in power?”

Background on Prof Alcinda Honwana:

Alcinda Honwana is currently Visiting Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the Open University (UK). She was chair in International Development at the Open University, and taught Anthropology at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and the New School for Social Research in New York. She was programme director at the Social Science Research Council in New York, and worked for the United Nations Office for Children and Armed Conflict. Honwana has written extensively on the links between political conflict and culture, and on the impact of violent conflict on children and youth, conducting research in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Colombia, and Sri Lanka. Her latest work has been on youth and social change in Africa, focusing on Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.

Honwana’s latest books include:

• Youth and Revolution in Tunisia (2013); 
• Time of Youth: Work, Social Change, and Politics in Africa (2012);
• Child Soldiers in Africa (2006);
• Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa (2005, co-edited).

Honwana was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Chair for Development and Equity in the Netherlands in 2007.

 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept