Towards a Transdisciplinary Approach to Paediatric Care and Surgery

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Saving the lives of children and babies is at the heart of UKZN’s Annual Update for Paediatrics and Paediatric Surgery.

The University’s Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health displays this priority at the academic event held again this year at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH).

Professor Kimesh L Naidoo and academic head Professor Refiloe Masekela were the organisers of the update which this year focused on a transdisciplinary approach to paediatric patient management.

A world-class paediatric pulmonologist and faculty member of the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), Masekela, said: ‘Children are the cornerstone of any society, so if we don’t do well with our kids, we have no future. If we do well in the first formative years of life, we can greatly impact society as a whole.’

Masekela said the event’s emphasis was on describing the latest developments in paediatrics and highlighting the impact their work has outside the discipline.

Masekela highlighted chronic otitis media - a condition that they treat daily as paediatricians, but which also requires integral transdisciplinary collaboration with otorhinolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat specialists), and interestingly, said to have a considerable impact the on mental health of patients. It is more common in children than in adults, characterised by a persistent discharge from the middle ear through a ruptured eardrum and identified as an important cause of preventable hearing loss, particularly in the developing world.

The above example is what medical experts from ENT, anaesthesia, neurosurgery, and orthopaedics, among others, shared insights on at the two-day event.

Proceedings started with three interactive parallel workshops: A Cranial Ultrasound Workshop for the Paediatrician, a Ventilation Workshop, and an Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Access Workshop.

The Academic Leader for UKZN’s School of Clinical Medicine Registrar programme and Head of Victoria Mxenge Hospital’s Paediatric Unit, Professor Kimesh Naidoo, said interactive sessions such as the ultrasound workshop were essential for upskilling participants on contemporary diagnostics for paediatric conditions.

“Peak Expiratory Flow Rate Monitoring in Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis”, was the title of Dr Sarena Maistry’s research. Maistry, who won the first prize of R5 000 for her oral presentation on the study during the cocktail symposium.

Dr Kerusha Reddy received the second prize of R3 000 for her presentation: “In-utero Exposure to Tenofovir Containing Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and Bone Mineral Content in HIV-Unexposed Infants”, while the third prize went to Dr Melusi Ngobese for his presentation titled: “Experiences of a Blended Learning Environment Amongst Paediatric Interns in South Africa”.

Delegates enjoyed a stimulating debate involving paediatric infectious disease specialist Dr Fathima Naby, who argued for the use of monoclonal antibodies for the reduction of the burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease, which affects the lungs of infants, and Masekela who alternatively proposed a maternal vaccine that could be potentially administered on pregnant women to protect their newborn babies.

Words and photographs: Lunga Memela