ASEA UNINET Teaching Course on Neurocritical Care Medicine at the University of Karachi, Pakistan
Published on: April 04, 2019
ASEA UNINET Teaching Course on Neurocritical Care Medicine at the University of Karachi, Pakistan
Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Pakistan; March 7-8, 2019
In continuance to the neurocritical care teaching courses held in Kuala Lumpur in December 2015, August 2016 and March 2018, the organizing bodies — namely ASEA UNINET, Medical University Austria and the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Pakistan — organized an intense, two-day course on all major aspects of neurocritical care, including severe ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, severe traumatic brain injury, acute cerebral hypoxia and anoxia, life-threatening infectious and inflammatory diseases of the nervous system. The course also covered technical issues like intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure all invasive multimodal neuromonitoring techniques.
These topics were addressed and intensively discussed by participants and the faculty, Dr. Erich Schmutzhard and Dr. Raimund Helbok, both of the Department of Neurology, Division of Neurocritical Care Medicine at Medical University Innsbruck (MUI) in Innsbruck, Austria.
The local organizing partners, Dr. Syed Tarique Moin, Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, director of ICCBS and Dr. Mohammad Wasay, professor of Neurology, University Karachi University in Karachi, did a perfect job to motivate and activate the regional and national potential neurocritical care medical community to participate in this teaching course. They introduced the course and the lecture and ensured a smooth and uneventful procedural and technical sequence. Dr. Schmutzhard and Dr. Helbok gave the lectures and acted as moderators of the Q&A sessions and the clinical Grand Rounds.
Both days were dedicated to lectures and Q&A sessions, as well as clinical Grand Rounds. In the clinical Grand Rounds, selected participants presented extremely interesting and sometimes highly challenging cases. Under the guidance of Dr. Schmutzhard and Dr. Helbok, these cases were thoroughly dissected and discussed.
A final joint resume based upon the entire experience of the participants and the faculty, including all questions, answers, differential diagnostic aspects, diagnostic and therapeutic issues and thoughts, yielded a highly acknowledged learning effect among the local and national participants, discussants and the faculty.
Beside these precious and highly acclaimed teaching and learning effects, these two days were productively used to further and deepen Pakistani and European (Austrian) ties in future learning, teaching, student exchange scientific collaborations.
Under the guidance of Dr. Moin, Dr. Wasay and Dr. Choudhary, the local organization was perfect in all respects. The challenge to provide all electronic teaching equipment, moderate the highly intensive lectures and discussions and to host the Austrian faculty members was met in a flawless manner and with enormous hospitality.
The >45 participants came from all over Pakistan. The participants/attendees were neurologists, neurosurgeons, , internal medicine specialists and pediatricians, both residents and specialists in their field, as well as senior medical students. Pakistan has a population of nearly 2 million, whereas specialists in neurology are estimated to be around 200-300 in the whole country.
The request to continue with such a teaching course in the region in a more extensive and prolonged way (three days) and to extend this activity into other ASEA UNINET member countries was intensively brought forward.