Ternopil State Medical University researcher interns at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse (France)
From 26 December 2015 to 15 June 2016 assistant professor of Pediatrics of Ternopil State Medical University Iryna Sarapuk interned at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse as a part of Erasmus Mundus MEDEA programme.
Training took place at the neonatology department of pediatric university hospital PURPAN.
Children’s Hospital PURPAN in Toulouse.
Department has 43 beds and consists of three parts: 5 intensive care units (26 beds in total), two departments of standard care (12 beds) and 5 rooms for joint stay of children and parents. It should be noted that according to modern approaches of treatment and care of newborns, especially premature babies, parents have the opportunity to stay around the clock or visit their children, including intensive care units. Intensive care is equipped according to all requirements of modern nursing of term and preterm infants. There is an ongoing rotation of patients from intensive to standard care, and later to the rooms for joint stay, allowing the parents to learn to care for the baby themselves, before being discharged from the hospital under the supervision of medical staff.
Neonatology department of the university pediatric hospital.
Standard care room at the neonatology department.
The department is outfitted with modern equipment; it has non-invasive ventilation therapy devices (devices for CPAP-therapy and high flow nasal cannulas), hemodynamic monitoring, infusomats with syringe filters for infusion therapy and enteral nutrition.
Infusion pumps for enteral nutrition.
During the internship Iryna got acquainted with new approaches to the management of these departments, diagnostics and treatment of the most common diseases of infants including congenital and nosocomial infections in newborns, birth defects, respiratory disorders, neonatal jaundice and care of preterm infants. She mastered modern methods of noninvasive ventilator support.
The main priority of practical and research activity of the staff is active introduction and implementation of the program NIDCAP. The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) is neonatal individual care aimed at development of premature infants and evaluation of its outcomes, which treats very premature babies as fetuses developing in ectopic environment at the time when their brain grows faster than in any other period of life.
The program provides and improves neurological development of the newborn, reducing stress for both the child and parents. Close attention is paid to the prevention of pain using medication and non-drug methods.
This program has been successfully implemented in the clinic of the Toulouse University for the last 10 years.
Intensive care unit with individual spot lighting near each incubator.
Care of premature baby placed in a “nest” according to NIDCAP guidelines.
Training was led by Professor Charlotte Kasper, one of the leading specialists in neonatology in France. Her main research intersts are: study of congenital infectious diseases, including CMV infection, as well as nursing and feeding of preterm infants.
During the internship Iryna participated in the Congress of Pediatricians of France, taking place in Lille on 18-20 May 2016. The congress was devoted to the topical issues of pediatrics and neonatology, and participating in were researchers from France, Belgium and Switzerland.
The Congress of pediatricians in Lille.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to the university administration, especially the rector of Ternopil State Medical University, Professor Mykhailo Korda, project coordinators – Natalia Lisnychuk and Alexandra Oleshchuk, Head of the Department of Pediatrics professor Galina Pavlyshyn and general manager ERASMUS MUNDUS MEDEA at the University of Toulouse (France), Ms. Elodie Balonas for their help in organizing and carrying out post-doc academic mobility program ERASMUS MUNDUS MEDEA.”
The information submitted by Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Iryna Sarapuk.