Puppets come to life in medical simulation lab
DOORNFONTEIN - Emergency medical training in South Africa has taken a giant leap forward with the inauguration of UJ and Philips' high-tech simulation laboratory.
“When I was in medical school, we had a lifeless mannequin head to practise on. We’d hook the body up to its equally lifeless torso with a cord to simulate emergency medical practices. Things have changed now.”
Dr Craig Lambert, Head of the Department of Emergency Medical Care at the University of Johannesburg is right about that; medical training has certainly come a long way.
Royal Philips and the University of Johannesburg inaugurated their state-of-the-art medical training simulation lab at the university’s Doornfontein Campus on 2 September. The inauguration conveniently took place during the Johannesburg stopover of Philips’ fifth consecutive pan-African Cairo to Cape Town roadshow.
“The simulated puppets in these laboratories breathe, they sweat, they die, they perfectly imitate anything that can happen in a hospital and pre-hospital environment,” Peter van der Ven, GM of Philips Healthcare Africa told the gathered doctors, government officials and media.
“It looks really great, and it makes me very proud to be part of this.”
This high-tech pioneering project will contribute to the hands-on training of medical students in South Africa by providing accurate simulations in imitated medical emergency settings.
The Simulation Lab Project is part of Philips’ ambition to improve the quality of healthcare in South Africa and Africa. Philips has equipped the lab at the university with state-of-the-art medical equipment and diagnostic devices intended to prepare emergency care students and academic staff operate under the pressurised and intense work environment of emergency medicine.
The lab is divided into four wards: an ambulance simulation room, an emergency department representing casualty simulation, a general ward and an intensive care unit (ICU).
The university departments of Emergency Medical Care, Biomedical Technology, Nursing and Radiology will benefit from the training at the new lab and initiates will be trained to work the high-tech machines by Philips.
“The partnership between Philips and UJ is a mutually beneficial opportunity; for UJ to expose our students to new technologies and for Philips to introduce their latest innovations into the African healthcare environment,” Professor André Swart, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Johannesburg said.
Inauguration attendees watched an ailing simulated puppet expertly restored to a healthier state by a nursing student; and they watched the beating (simulated) heart of a baby on a fetal monitor hooked up to a simulated mother.
The university’s college for emergency medicine is already using the facility to prepare for their coming exams. It’s hard to imagine them failing.
