Education Committee

Plea for help in implementation of Action Plan of the Education Committee

Though the developed countries have been able to establish good spinal cord injury services, the developing countries have lagged behind in this regard. In these countries, there is not only a need to develop infrastructure for provision of spinal injury services, but educational programmes for medical and paramedical professionals also assume great importance. Keeping this in mind, an Action Plan of the Education Committee had been developed. The plan was approved by ISCoS at the meeting in Reykjavik.

This Action Plan cannot be implemented successfully without the active involvement and whole hearted support of all the ISCoS members who could help in this regard through:

  1. Actively participating and presenting their work on spinal injury management in major related conferences especially in their region. The members could liaise with organizers of these conferences and explore the possibility to have a session/workshop on spinal injury management if it is relevant to the theme.
  2. Popularizing any available Fellowships/Observership of SCI management being offered by their organization or other organizations in their region.
  3. Exploring possibilities of contributing in creating community awareness about spinal cord injuries, its prevention and management.
  4. Promoting their Regional Spinal Cord Societies to come out with journals/newsletters/ bulletins, organize conferences/symposiums and to be proactive for other educational & training activities pertaining to spinal cord Injuries.
  5. Exploring possibilities to liaise with concerned authorities for inclusion of SCI Management within the curriculum of MBBS degree and that of other concerned para-medical professions like Nurses, Psychologists, Social workers etc.; simultaneously encouraging students to take electives on SCI management.
  6. Exploring possibilities to try to sensitize government & officialsNGO's/organizations as well as medical/paramedical professionals about the impact of SCI Management and Prevention on the quality of lives of the spinal injured and the economy of the Nation and hence the need for setting of Spinal Cord Injury Services i.e. either develop Spinal Injury Centers or develop/ strengthen units in hospitals for Spinal Injury Management.
  7. Trying to promote networking of various NGO's/Societies/Organizations working in this field in their region.
  8. Popularizing ISCoS endorsed protocols of SCI management.

Trial run of ISCoS Approved Plan of "Workshop on SCI Management"

The Education Committee of ISCoS, in collaboration with WHO, has developed a Plan for a series of "Workshops on SCI Management" with the aim to use it as a training module for the education of doctors and other members of the multidisciplinary team on basic principles of spinal injury management. Dr Olive C Kobusingye, Regional Advisor, Violence & Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, WHO Regional Office for Africa and Mr Joe Ubiedo, Technical Officer for Disability and Rehabilitation at AFRO-WHO, are the WHO officials who have provided the inputs to the plan. This plan was approved by the ISCoS General Body, Council and Executive at its meeting in Reykjavik. The first such three day Workshop is proposed to be held in Durban from the second day of the Annual Scientific Meeting of ISCoS. The Workshop will especially target on professionals from African countries.

A Workshop on SCI management was organized as per the ISCoS approved plan at Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre, Katmandu, Nepal from 20th to 22nd May 2007. 48 doctors and Para-medical professionals from all over Nepal participated in the Workshop.

The faculty comprised of experts from Nepal and other Asian countries and included ISCoS members like Dr Apichana Kovindha (Thailand), Dr Fazlul Hoque (Bangladesh), Eric Weerts (Vietnam), Stephen and Maggie Muldoon (Ireland) and the undersigned. The Workshop was funded by John Grooms Overseas. The Workshop was appreciated by the delegates. The faculty was of the consensus that more emphasis should be given on panel discussions, practical demonstrations and hands on training than on didactic lectures.

A 3 day Workshop is also planned as a post conference workshop during International Spine and Spinal Injuries Conference (ISSICON-2008) being held in New Delhi from 22nd to 24th February 2008. It will also use the ISCoS approved module and the feedback will be used to make further improvements.

Dr H SD Chhabra
issicon@isiconline.org