Diversified technology company Philips, in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg (UJ)), inaugurated a medical training simulation laboratory on the university premises during the Johannesburg stopover of Philips’ fifth consecutive Pan-African Cairo-to-Cape Town roadshow this month.

This pioneering project will contribute to the hands-on training of medical students in South Africa by providing accurate simulations in simulated medical emergency settings.
The simulation lab project is part of Philips’ ambition to improve the quality of healthcare in South Africa through meaningful solutions, innovations and partnerships.

Recognising that the lack of availability of trained and skilled healthcare professionals is an increasing challenge across Africa, Philips has been putting a lot of emphasis on education and training. The company has equipped the simulation lab at UJ with medical equipment and diagnostic devices intended to expose emergency care students and academic staff to current medical technologies and adequately prepare them to operate under a pressurised and intense work environment.

“It is important that students have a fully incorporated curriculum, with simulation as a key component of teaching and assessment. Up until recently, staff and students made use of classrooms that were not purposefully designed for simulation-based learning. “We started to explore ideas around creating an integrated, multidisciplinary laboratory that would focus on teaching and assessment of clinical skills in a simulation environment. As a company focused on innovations in the healthcare sector, Philips has proved to be the ideal partner to bring this simulation laboratory concept to life,” says UJ Department of Emergency Medical Care head Dr Craig Lambert.

The South African Department of Higher Education and Training has also played a key role in this project by awarding a clinical training grant to assist UJ in improving the clinical competences of health professional graduates and getting the simulation lab up and running.

The lab is divided into four wards: an ambulance simulation room, an emergency department representing casualty simulation, a general ward and an intensive care unit.
The university departments of emergency medical care, biomedical technology, nursing and radiology will benefit from the training at the new simulation lab.

Appropriate implementation training will be provided by Philips, as this training is central to the success and sustainability of the simulation lab. Philips will also provide training for the academic employees and clinicians on the correct and most effective use of all the new technologies they have installed in the laboratories, as well as their new products.

“Through our ongoing partnership with one of the most respected universities in South Africa, Philips is contributing much-needed resources to ensure that there is a highly trained and qualified healthcare workforce for the public to rely on. We are helping to transform healthcare in South Africa by enhancing the individual performance of the next generation of healthcare professionals, which will ultimately benefit the patients in the form of good, reliable care,” says Philips Healthcare Africa VP Peter van de Ven.