Our work focuses on teaching the entire spectrum of Pediatric Orthopedic surgery.
This includes medical knowledge, surgical skill training and professionalism and leadership. We have made the full spectrum of the latest educational media for training available to our trainees. Our Tanzanian fellows have a 365 day study program by Orthobullets and periodic knowledge assessment exams. Surgical training will be case-based experiential. The fellows are the lead surgeons on all cases (a major skills educational benefit), with direct, hands-on COEDN surgeon training support.
Our program was developed with, and is accredited through the College Of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA). Fellows undergo a structured 18 month curriculum and full time surgical training after which they must pass written and oral exams. With success they are accredited as a “Fellow of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa: FCS ECSA.
There is a huge population of children in developing countries living with untreated deforming and debilitating musculoskeletal conditions (see below). Often these are long-standing and severe. We partner with government welfare agencies and various NGO’s to locate these children and provide them access to expert orthopedic care.
Conditions categories:
1. Trauma (fractures, dislocations and soft tissue injuries)
2. Infection (septic joints, osteomyelitis)
3. Congenital (clubfoot, hip dysplasia, limb deficiency, etc.)
4. Developmental (non-traumatic growth abnormalities, scoliosis, tumor, etc.)
5. Neurological (cerebral palsy, neuropathies, etc.)
6. Syndromic (Down, Marfan, etc.)
We are teaching operative care for children’s spine conditions such as scoliosis at various sites. Surgical training is as advanced and safe as possible relative to local services and resources, and efforts are continuously underway to not only to improve training, but also to upgrade equipment and technology. For example, we have facilitated providing a 40 ft. container of equipment such as X-ray and ultrasound machines, anesthesia machines, operating tables, respirators, ICU monitors, IV pumps and hundreds of surgical instruments and implants for the top teaching and referral hospital in Tanzania.