Abstract
Background
There is a shortage of surgeons in Africa, and this shortage is particularly acute in paediatric surgery with most paediatric patients being cared for by general surgeons. The use of information technology to augment teaching in paediatric surgery in Africa is appealing but often unsuccessful due to the costs involved and a lack of bandwidth. A simple solution is needed to allow sharing of teaching sessions that are normally conducted by videoconference in areas in which bandwidth is adequate.
Method
Weekly paediatric surgical interactive seminars that are regularly shared by videoconference by three centres in South Africa have been recorded onto DVDs. These have been bundled into monthly packages and couriered to four medical schools in East and Central Africa. Recipients have been at liberty to use them as they saw fit. After 6 months, a survey was conducted to determine the usefulness of the exercise.
Results
At all recipient sites, the seminars were used as part of the teaching of general surgical trainees and paediatric surgical fellows at those medical schools with appropriate training programmes. Three of the four schools used the seminars in undergraduate courses. All regarded the seminars as useful and all but one as of adequate visual and sound quality.
Conclusion
The in-house teaching at the medical school in Durban is now shared by over 140 surgical trainees and students in four countries in which a lack of bandwidth precludes videoconferencing, and this low-tech low-cost solution has proved effective in resource-poor settings.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kruk ME, Wladis A, Mbembati N, Ndao-Brimblay SK et al (2010) Human resource and funding constraints for essential surgery in District Hospitals in Africa: a retrospective cross-sectional survey. PLoS Med 7(3):e1000242
Loefler IJ (1999) The drawbacks of overspecialisation. J R Coll Surg Edinb 44:11–12
Mullan F, Frehywot S (2007) Non-physician clinicians in 47 sub-Saharan African countries. Lancet 370(9605):2158–2163
van Amelsfoort JJ, van Leeuwen PA, Jiskoot P, Ratsma YE (2010) Surgery in Malawi—the training of clinical officers. Trop Doct 40(2):74–76
Mkandawire N, Mgulube C, Lavy C (2008) Orthopedic clinical officer program in Malawi: a model for providing orthopaedic care. Clin Orthop Relat Res 466(10):2385–2391
Hadley GP (2004) The paediatric surgeon in Africa: luxury or necessity? East Central Afr J Surg 9(2):104–109
Mkhnado S, Young B, Lakhoo K (2008) The scope of emergency paediatric surgery in Tanzania. Pediatr Surg Inter 24(2):219–222
Chirdan LB, Ameh EA, Abantanga FA, Sidler D et al (2010) Challenges of training and delivery of pediatric surgical services in Africa. J Pediatr Surg 45(3):610–618
World Population Prospects. The 2008 Revision Highlights. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2009). http://esa.un.org/undp/wpp2008/pdf/WPP2008
Walker IA (2009) Con: pediatric anesthesia training in developing countries is best achieved by out of country scholarships. Paediatr Anaesth 19(1):45–49
Hagopian A, Thompson MJ, Fordyce M, Johnson KE, Hart GL (2004) The migration of physicians from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States of America: measures of the African brain drain. Hum Resour Health 2:17
Mullan F (2005) The metrics of the physician brain drain. N Engl J Med 353(17):1810–1818
Mullan F (2007) Doctors and soccer players—African professionals on the move. NEJM 356(5):440–443
Serour I (2009) Healthcare workers and the brain drain. Int J Gynecol Obstet 106(2):175–178
Wasswa H (2008) Ethiopia plans to train extra 9000 doctors to fill gap left by migration. BMJ 336:689. doi:10.1136/bmj.39525.419803.4E
Cywes S, Millar A, Rode H (2003) From a “louw” beginning…paediatric surgery in South Africa. J Pediatr Surg 38(7 Suppl):44–47
Ozgediz D, Wang J, Jayaraman S, Ayzengart A et al (2008) Surgical training and global health: initial results of a 5 year partnership with a surgical training program in a low-income country. Arch Surg 143(9):860–865
Nthumba PM (2010) “Blitz Surgery”: redefining surgical needs, training and practice in sub-Saharan Africa. World J Surg 34(3):433–437
Hadley GP, Mars M (2008) Postgraduate medical education in paediatric surgery: Videoconferencing—a possible solution for Africa? Pediatr Surg Int 24:223–226
Internet World Stats. Internet usage statistics for Africa. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
Pehrson B, Comstedt A (2009) Connecting West and Central Africa to the global research and education infrastructure. http://www.feast-project.org/documents/aauf-fibrefinal-report-2009-08-07.pdf
Ozgediz D, Galukande M, Mabweijana J, Kijjambu S et al (2008) The neglect of the global surgical workforce: experience and evidence from Uganda. World J Surg 32(6):1208–1215
Bickler SW, Rode H (2002) Surgical services for children in developing countries. Bulletin of World Health Organization, vol 80, pp 829–825
International Telecommunications Union (2009) Measuring the information society. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/index.html
International Telecommunications Union. Information Society Statistics Profile 2209. Africa. http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-RPM.AF-2009-PDF-E.pdf.Geneva
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hadley, G.P., Mars, M. e-Education in paediatric surgery: a role for recorded seminars in areas of low bandwidth in sub-Saharan Africa. Pediatr Surg Int 27, 407–410 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-010-2806-z
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-010-2806-z