19 December 2008
Posted in Latest News

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This week video conferencing was examined as an adjunct to simulation training at the Haukeland University Hospital. By the use of video cameras in the operating rooms at other hospitals in the region surgeons at the University Hospital may in the future help their colleagues elsewhere.

- If a patient is in the process of exsanguination a focused and prompt surgical approach is needed. These courses are intended to train surgical teams from all over the country in emergency surgical procedures. By this they will hopefully feel more confident to perform this type of surgery the few times it may be needed, says consultant anaesthesiologist Guttorm Brattebø at the emergency medical section of the University Hospital.

Surgeons to receive more training.
Together with consultant surgeon Kari Schrøder Hansen at the surgical department he headed the course arranged this week, where video conferencing was used. While a surgical team was operating anaesthetized pigs at the "Vivarium" the procedure was video transferred to the major lecture hall.

Most hospitals in Norway are treating few of this kind of trauma victims, and will thus gain little or no experience in these techniques.

- The course is intended to provide surgeons with more hands-on training. In emergency situations each second counts, and the patient needs surgery immediately. When the most urgent phase is over, more experienced surgeons may assist their colleagues with advice and decision-making, Brattebø explains.

Videoconferencing may also improve the assessment of whether a patient needs transfer to a higher treatment level. By having more experienced surgeons viewing the patient instead of just relying on a telephone report, the patient might avoid a long and difficult transport before the condition has been stabilized, Brattebø adds.

84 teams trained.
The consultant anaesthesiologist tells that videoconferencing under these circumstances has not yet been used in real life in the Bergen Health Trust so far, but the course was also intended to test the applicability of this technique.

The University hospital is co-operating with the oil company StatoilHydro, with long experience in videoconferencing to improve access to high expertise. We want to evaluate whether techniques from the off-shore activities are useful here, Brattebø says.

So far 84 surgical teams from hospitals all over Norway have received training in damage control surgical techniques arranged by the BEST Foundation, among these 74 teams from the Haukeland University Hospital. 32 Norwegian hospitals have so far participated in the surgical team training.

- There is still a need for this kind of practical training, and we are aware that several trauma victims have benefited from what our colleagues learned during the training here, Kari Schrøder Hansen says.

An important task for the trauma center is to continue this kind of competence improvement in the future.

A link to the article is found HERE.

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