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A project aimed at sharing diabetes know-how with nurses in The Gambia has been awarded £6,400 by the Welsh Assembly Government.
The funding will support exchange visits for staff working in diabetes in both Swansea and Gambia. The staff will work together focusing on wound care, auditing and the development of patient information posters. This training will build on the success of the previous project which provided educational resources, via eLearning, on the management of diabetic foot care.
Ros Thomas, Swansea Deputy Head of Podiatry, said: “The Diabetic Foot is a global health problem; Type 2 Diabetes and its associated foot disease is increasing in The Gambia. A link was set up between Swansea and The Gambia to aid knowledge in the Diabetic foot using an e−learning module.”
 Picture: Ros Thomas dressing a diabetic leg ulcer during a visit to The Gambia “The e-learning module was a great success; an audit of staff knowledge at the Royal Victoria Hospital in The Gambia showed a 60% increase in knowledge and understanding of the diabetic foot after using the e-learning module.”
Terence Gorvett, Research and Development and IT Lead in Podiatry, added: “We are very happy to have been awarded this funding. We hope to build on the success of the e-learning module by using the funding for exchange training visits. Two nurses from The Gambia will be visiting us to gain experience and knowledge on the care of a person with diabetes.”
“The visiting nurses will get the opportunity to see first-hand how patients with diabetes are managed in Swansea. Plus, the module set up to accompany their visit can be taken back to their place of work and used as a reference tool to educate students and qualified staff in wound care and diabetes.”
 Picture: Relatives camp outside the hospital as it is too expensive to travel back and for. The project will start with an initial visit by Ros and Terence to Gambia in August 2010 aiming to further identify training needs ahead of the Gambia nurses visit to Swansea. |
Teaching
