Krissy is one of our own - she hails from Duluth, Minnesota, and while we've corresponded, we've yet to meet. I've reblogged this from her blog, "Krissy on Mercy" so you can check out her job on the ship. I found it fascinating!
A few weeks ago I wrote the first of several promised blog posts
answering the question "What is it you DO, exactly?" If you recall, my
job is to bring transformation.
The Basic Surgical Skills course is a two-day program designed to train
surgeons and other physicians in the use of safe surgical techniques
that are common to all forms of surgery and emergency care. This course
was developed by the Royal College of Surgeons in the UK and is
required for all surgical students. Much of the materials for the
course are graciously provided by Johnson & Johnson and give the
participants an opportunity to do something they rarely get to
experience: they get to practice their skills.
In all the courses we have run so far, we have used some kind of
practice equipment; be it manikins for CPR or intubation, fake skin or
foam for suturing, or infant simulators for newborn resuscitation; and
the resounding request from all participants is can we do that again??
The Malagasy healthcare workers we are training don't have the luxury of
skin simulator pads or extra suture for practicing; the only practice
they get is on cadavers in medical school or live patients in their
hospital. That's where we get to be really generous! We supply them
with more than enough gloves, they don't have to wash them and reuse
them again! The course uses simulator kits and plenty of extra blades,
sutures, and instruments so the participants are able to not only learn
new skills but repeat them and practice them over, and over, and over,
with expert supervision and guidance, until they get them right.
But the practice opportunities don't stop at skin simulators; these
doctors get the best training we can offer and for this course that
means animal tissue. To be precise, pigs intestines (to practice bowel
repair techniques), aorta (blood vessel repair), belly (for practicing
different kinds of stitches, and removing of cysts and other lumps and
bumps) and feet (tendon repair and wound cleaning). These tissues most
closely resemble their human counterparts and provide the most ideal
training setup.
I, as course manager, and my team, learned some valuable lessons this
year during BSSC. Most notably, even if it is refrigerated, fresh pigs
tissues degrade rather quickly and permeate the air with a most unsavory
odor. We used a LOT of air freshener.
But nasty odors aside, the participants were all so pleased with the
course and asked over and over, "when can we do this again" and "can we
have this refresher training every six months?". These surgeons and
doctors learned valuable and critically needed skills for surgery, and
one can only hope and pray that those new-found skills (or newly refined
skills) will positively impact the lives of hundreds of future
patients.
Transformed people = Transformed medical practice = Transformed national health structure.
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| Not a waste of materials, an abundance of blessings for the physicians and their future patients! |
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| Under that
neoprene foam (which simulates the abdominal wall) there is a balloon!
The job of the surgeon is to open the cavity and then repair it without
popping the balloon! |
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| Yep, those are pigs feet. |
