Our teaching and training division, VP Education collaborated with Royal Cornwall Hospital’s Allied Healthcare Professionals to help deliver a unique CTO course.
Designed with a team of AHPs from the Royal Cornwall Hospital, this course was the first of its kind for 2019. The team at VP|ED were tasked with facilitating and helping to organise the event, ensuring its smooth running and success.
The course focused on the treatment and journey of an individual patient who suffered an out of hospital arrest. The patient was successfully resuscitated by a bystander before being taken by ambulance to the primary service at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. Upon treating the primary, other coronary artery disease was diagnosed: a Chronic Total Occlusion. This course consisted of a full day interactive workshop. Delegates took part in a number of lectures and simulator sessions, where they were able to try out different products, learn new techniques and improve on their existing skills.
Throughout the day, course delegates had the opportunity to listen and learn from a number of practitioners who are highly experienced in CTO treatments. Our VP|ED trainers delivered talks on CTO terminology, CTO Toolbox and guidewires. The audience were also fortunate enough to benefit from the patient’s perspective, offering alternative insight into the treatment of heart disease, how it feels to be a patient.
A particular highlight was the lecture delivered by the chief coroner. This topic is not one that is usually addressed, but it certainly provided an interesting element to the course and an additional specialist for delegates to engage with.
42 delegates attended in total and we have been delighted with the positive feedback from all, demonstrating the success of this event and its value for Allied Health Professionals in the southwest. Whilst the inaugural course was relatively small scale, we are looking to expand in the future.