Cardiac training at new centre

THE first training centre in Africa for specialised advanced life support to patients who have undergone cardiac surgery has been established at Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital in Cape Town.

The Cardiac Surgical Unit Advanced Life Support (CSUALS) course aims to equip healthcare professionals to efficiently apply highly specialised clinical protocols that aim to prevent, identify and immediately treat cardiac arrest after surgery to save the patient’s life, all within a very short time frame.

Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital, in collaboration with Atlantic Cardiovascular and Thoracic Institute, has been licensed by Cardiac Advanced Life Support (CALS-S) UK, an international training organisation, to train South African healthcare professionals in the CSU-ALS course.

Minimally invasive and keyhole cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Johan van der Merwe, who heads the Atlantic Cardiovascular and Thoracic Institute based at Netcare Blaauwberg, said thousands of cardiac operations were successfully performed in South Africa every year. Although most patients recovered without incident, a small number suffered cardiac arrest after surgery.

“An immediate, co-ordinated and efficient response by the multidisciplinary critical care team to manage incidents of cardiac arrest can have a significant impact on these patients’ outcomes,” said Van der Merwe.

The cardiac surgical critical care team at the hospital will host and provide the course twice a year.