By Samira Larbie/Grace Ampomaa
Accra, Sept 15, GNA – The Medical Training and Simulation Centre, a directorate of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) has launched the 2022 Healthcare Simulation Week in Accra to help supplement clinical practice in Ghana.
The Week observed on September 12-16 seeks to celebrate clinical simulation professionals worldwide.
Medical simulation is the creation of real-world situations so that healthcare providers can learn, practice, and assess their medical skills in a safe environment.
Simulation can provide this learning opportunity using the whole body of humanity, devices called task trainers, actors who portray patients, or even simulated medical scenarios using virtual reality.
The launch of the 2022 Healthcare Simulation Week was on the theme: “Medical Simulation, an Excellent Training tool for Enhancement of Clinical Practice”.
Professor Aaron Lawson, Director of Medical Training and Simulation Centre (MTSC) underscoring the importance of Medical Simulation, said the exercise widely used by health professionals did not intend to replace the need for learning in the clinical environment, but to supplement clinical practice.
It is therefore important to integrate simulation training with clinical practice during curriculum development to have a safe and effective healthcare delivery.
“The increasing amount of medical information, rapid evolution of healthcare practice, changing disease patterns worldwide and research which was coupled with the intake of large numbers of health professional students, make it difficult for medical education to stay current to its curriculum,” Prof Lawson stated.
He explained that medical simulation strengthens professional competence, teamwork, communication, and other crucial abilities that were vital to patient safety.
The simulation exercise also helped reduce risks to patients and learners, improved learners’ competence and confidence, increased patient safety, and reduced health care costs overall, he added.
He said medical simulation “is therefore and without doubt an excellent tool for enhancement of clinical practice.
Prof Lawson, thus, implored the public and institutions to use the UGMC MTSC, a nationally recognized facility, to learn and give the needed clinical practice.
Dr Darius K. Osei, Chief Executive Officer of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), said the simulation centre was the first of its kind in the sub-region.
He said medical simulation was initiated to safeguard patients’ safety and avoid the numerous problems they face during exercise as most of humanity could mimic diverse health conditions.
Dr Osei noted that the UGMC had started training some students on basic medical skills in Greater Accra as a pilot programme with the intention of training 4000 students so that second cycle institutions would have experts who could save lives in an emergency while they wait for ambulances to arrive.
He said “medical simulation week is celebrated everywhere, and for the first time, the UGMC, having the facility, tried to celebrate with the rest of the world to let them know that it had an environment like that which intends to improve the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of clinicians.
GNA