Mark Hatch (left) with Nicci Heyes (in yellow) from the Blue Skies Hospitals Fund and FY2 doctors Anand Makadia, Danny Barling, George Howell and Akshay Srivasava with one of the tablets in the Simulation and Skills Centre at Blackpool Victoria Hospital
Junior doctors and consultants are honing their surgical skills on new Samsung Galaxy tablets thanks a health trust’s charity.
The electronic tablets, which are used when medics are working on their hand-eye coordination skills, have been supplied by the Blue Skies Hospitals Fund – the charity of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Mark Hatch, who works as an instructor in the Trust’s Simulation and Skills Centre, said the tablets were extremely useful when doctors were learning or working on keyhole surgery skills.
Mark said: “A basic box with hand held controls is used to enhance manual dexterity.
“With keyhole surgery you can’t feel and you can’t see inside the patient so we use a camera and the electronic tablet.
Mark Hatch
“Surgeons also like to use the kit as it can help them get their eye in before operations. There is research that shows that if you brush up on this sort of equipment before an operation, it’s much easier when you do the real thing.
“It’s a safe way of learning surgical skills. We are very grateful to Blue Skies for the six new Samsung Galaxy tablets.”
The unit is now looking at working with consultants to roll out a basic laparoscopic skills course using the tablets. This course will be advertised in due course.
Nicci Heyes from the Blue Skies Hospitals Fund said: “It’s brilliant to see the tablets working.
“We always want the money that has been raised to be used for a good purpose.”
The equipment will also be used in the Maternity operating theatre.