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Successful training of self-sufficient interventional paediatric cardiology team in a sub-Saharan setting: a multicentre collaborative model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2014

Endale Tefera ,
Shakeel A. Qureshi  and
Ramón Bermudez-Cañete
Endale Tefera*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Cardiology Division, School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Shakeel A. Qureshi
Affiliation:
Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Guys and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
Ramón Bermudez-Cañete
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Ramon y Cajal University Hospital, Madrid, Spain
*
Correspondence to: Dr E. Tefera, MD, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Cardiology Division, School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 1768, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tel: +251 911 806126; Fax: +251 115 153099; E-mail: endalet2008@gmail.com
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Abstract

Background: Most children in the Third World do not have access to treatment for heart diseases, as the priorities of health care are different from the developed countries. Materials and methods: Since 2009, teams supported by the Chain of Hope and Spanish medical volunteers have travelled twice a year to help develop paediatric cardiac services in the Cardiac Center in Ethiopia, undertaking four missions each year. As of December 2012, 296 procedures were performed on 287 patients. The procedures included 128 duct occlusions, 55 pulmonary valve dilations, 25 atrial septal defect closures, 14 mitral valve dilations, and others. The local staff were trained to perform a majority of these cases. Results: Procedural success was achieved in 264 (89.2%). There were three deaths, five device embolisations, and three complications in mitral valve dilation. During the visits, the local staff were trained including one cardiologist, six nurses, and two technicians. The local team performed percutaneous interventions on its own after a couple of years. The goal is also to enable the local team to perform interventions independently. Conclusion: Training of an interventional cardiology team in a sub-Saharan setting is challenging but achievable. It may be difficult for a single centre to commit to sending frequent missions to a developing country to make a meaningful contribution to the training of local teams. In our case, coordination between the teams from the two countries helped to achieve our goals.

Keywords

Interventional catheterisationpaediatric cardiology servicesub-Saharan setting
Type
Original Articles
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 25 , Issue 5 , June 2015 , pp. 874 - 878
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2014 

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