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21 November 2019 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Charl Devenish
Ultrasound read more
Checking out some features of the Samsung ultrasound system are, from the left: SSEM Mthembu Medical's Chase Hutchinson and Jannie Coetzee; Head of Anaesthesiology, Dr Edwin Turton; and Head of Undergraduate Training in Anaesthesiology, Prof Lomby Odendaal.
Medical students in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS will now be able to learn how to perform procedures such as the precise location of a vein for intravenous lines and for diagnostic procedures such as detecting abnormalities in pregnancies, identifying gallstones, and diagnosing trauma-related injuries with ease.  This will be made possible by the placement of a one-of-a-kind ultrasound machine – putting them on par with cutting-edge global medical technology.

A first ever in the medical curriculum of undergraduate students at the UFS

The state-of-the-art, compact HS70A Samsung ultrasound system to the value of R1,4 million was unveiled in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit on 19 November. A first ever in the medical curriculum of undergraduate students at the UFS, it is set to revolutionise the delivery of health-care education in the faculty, said Prof Lomby Odendaal, Teaching and Learning Coordinator for undergraduate anaesthesiology training in the Department of Anaesthesiology.

The ultrasound system was donated by SSEM Mthembu Medical and Samsung Korea.
Prof Odendaal said for the first time in the history of the undergraduate MB ChB curriculum, the ultrasound will be available to medical students from their third year. Students have never had the opportunity to be trained in using ultrasound this early in their careers.

Improved clinical training experience of students

Ultrasound is a diagnostic medical tool that uses sound waves to produce images of internal structures of the body. Prof Odendaal said ultrasound is important to determine pathology and diseases in the body and to provide point-of-care ultrasound. Having the ultrasound in the unit will transform the clinical training experience of students, training them to provide better treatment and medical care, even in constrained environments, to improve patient care.

“There is almost no structure in the body that cannot be examined using ultrasound. It makes the delivery of healthcare more effective. If you make a better diagnosis, the treatment and care will be much better. Ultrasound is so important lately that if you don’t do it, you will be left behind. That’s why we decided to bring this to the students. We can’t miss out on teaching our students about ultrasound, because we want them to be familiar with it by the time they finish their medical degree, so that, even if they go to smaller hospitals, they will be able to spread diagnostic care to the periphery,” Prof Odendaal said.

Streamlined workflow for patient care

“The cutting-edge technology and rich image quality of the ultrasound will deliver top-notch diagnoses to suit the diverse departments within the faculty,” said Chase Hutchinson, National Product Manager at SSEM Mthembu Medical. It comes with various pre-set models to cater for different needs and applications, allowing streamlined workflow for higher efficiency and patient care.

According to Prof Mathys Labuschagne, the Head of the Clinical Simulation and Skills Unit, ultrasound training will improve the quality of doctors graduating in the faculty. “We are really excited about this. You can diagnose many conditions using ultrasound and deliver point-of-care ultrasound; this will become a natural part of students’ training and clinical practice in future.”

News Archive

UFS sets trend for higher education institutions
2005-09-21

The University of the Free State (UFS) offers more service-learning courses than any other higher education institution in the country and has the highest number of students enrolled for these service-learning courses.

This was the research findings on higher education institutions conducted between 2001 and 2004 by the Joint Education Trust (JET) into service-learning courses. These are courses which seek to integrate service to the community into the academic core of higher education institutions.

The results of this research indicated that the UFS is one of the few higher education institutions in South Africa that have made progress in integrating community engagement into the mainstream academy.

According to the findings 2 233 students at the UFS participated in service-learning courses supported by JET, while 858 students at the University of Transkei (UNITRA), 636 students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and only 600 students at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) participated in service-learning courses.

In total there were 6 930 students participating in service learning courses supported by the JET at 10 institutions throughout the country.

The research also found that out of a total of 182 service-learning courses supported by JET countrywide, the UFS had the highest number of such courses at 42, followed by WITS with 28, the University of Kwazulu Natal with 26, UWC 24 and UNITRA with 22.

Nationally, most of the service-learning courses at higher education institutions are offered in the human sciences (62), followed by health sciences (37), education (26), agriculture (14), and economic sciences (11).

According to leading academics, service-learning is a credit-bearing, educational exercise in which students participate in an organised service activity that meets identified community needs and helps the student to gain a deeper understanding of course content and a sense of civic responsibility.

Reacting to the research findings, the Rector and Vice-chancellor of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the university feels strongly that there should be integration of service-learning into the academic core of the institution.

“Through service-learning modules the UFS can give expression to its role of service to the community as an institution of higher learning, producing quality graduates who understand the communities in which they will have to function for the rest of their lives,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Mr Jo Lazarus, the project manager of the Community-Higher Education – Service Partnership (CHESP), which falls under the JET, a number of institutions have identified community engagement as a strategic priority and have allocated significant resources from their central budget towards its implementation.

Mr Lazarus said most students have an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards service learning.

“A large percentage of students surveyed indicated that their service-learning course helped to improve their relationship skills, leadership skills and project planning abilities. As significant is the fact that these courses also benefited them in terms of their awareness of cultural differences and opened their eyes about their own cultural stereotypes,” said Mr Lazarus.

“The key challenge still hampering the integration of service-learning as a core function of academic activity is that some institutions still see service-learning as an add-on, and nice-to-have activity,” he said.

According to Mr Lazarus higher education must demonstrate social responsibility and commitment to the common good by making available expertise and infrastructure for service-learning as a form of community engagement.

Media release
Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel:  (051) 401-2584
   Cell:  083 645 2454
   E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
   20 September 2005

 

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