UKZN Technician Delivers Presentation at Conference in the USA

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UKZN’s Principal Technician in the Discipline of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care in the College of Health Sciences, Mr Naren Bhimsan presented a paper at the SimGHOSTS Conference in Miami titled: New Trend in Training: Taking Hi-Fidelity Simulation Cross-Country to Under-Resourced Anesthetists.

Bhimsan’s presentation demonstrated the impact of cross-country collaboration and the sharing of expensive training resources, while also exploring the role of high fidelity in emergency training.

Bhimsan said various African countries were under resourced and financially deprived especially in the healthcare sector where there was less than adequate training available.

The high costs of travel to centres of high-fidelity simulation made visits by representatives from many African countries prohibitive. With this in mind, Bhimsan and his team of four consultant anaesthesiologists, started providing training in some of the countries and successfully transported paediatric hi-fidelity simulators to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 2017 and Lusaka, Zambia, in 2018. Around 45 anaesthetists were trained in each country in an internationally accredited programme known as Managing Emergencies in Paediatric Anaesthesia (MEPA).

Bhimsan is also the Manager at UKZN’s Simulated Modules in Anaesthesia and Resuscitation Training Centre based at Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban. This Centre has four hi-fidelity human patient simulators – manufactured by CAE Healthcare – at its their state-of-the-art simulation centre, which is used to train Medical students, physicians, nurses, and other allied health professionals.

Words: Lihle Sosibo

Photograph: Supplied