According to Carrie and Jenny, Vascutek initially got involved in training through Vascular Nurse Study Days and Anastomotic workshops, which were established to help nurses and junior doctors who were new to the field. Later it became more important for nurses to attend training days in order to retain their registration. Vascutek, in conjunction with the vascular surgical community, developed further initiatives.
In the UK, Vascutek are involved with numerous training initiatives including:
Postgraduate Vascular Course at St Thomas’ Hospital
Vascular Nurse Study Days
Anastomotic workshops
EAVST Vascular & Endovascular Training Day
Fem-distal Course at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham
Endovascular courses
Renal Access meeting
GVG Revision course
Revision course for EBSQ-VASC in Dublin
Internationally, Vascutek offers a range of educational materials, including Essentials of Vascular surgery 2nd edition, Surgical Sense, slide sets, power point presentations, videos and CDs. Vascutek is also actively involved in patient education.
The 2002–2003 edition of Fast Facts is to be launched during the 25th Charing Cross International Symposium.
EAVST Vascular & Endovascular Training Day
Vascutek’s involvement with the European Association of Vascular Surgeons in Training (EAVST) Revision Course, now known as the EAVST Vascular & Endovascular Training Day, which precedes the Charing Cross International Symposium, dates back eight years. Alun Davies, then a surgeon in training himself, approached the company for support. This was initially provided in the organisation of the meeting and assistance with travel costs for committee members. It was from the half-day revision courses that the EAVST training day grew. For the first time this year the course will include both vascular and endovascular sessions.
Both Carrie and Jenny hope that this year’s Vascular & Endovascular Training Day at the 25th Charing Cross International Symposium will be of great interest and that they can build on this and last year’s success.
Vascutek are also organising, in conjunction with Medi UK, a Revision course for EBSQ-VASC at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, in September.
The EAVST framework has changed radically over the years, with training now a continuous activity and the EAVST membership now almost 700. A quarterly newsletter, supported by Vascutek, is circulated to members to keep them up to date with the information.
First Renal Access Meeting
According to Jenny, the recent Renal Access Meeting, supported by Vascutek, at the Royal Society of Medicine was very well received. It was the first time that Vascutek had supported this meeting. In fact there we not enough places available, with many people having to be turned away which we regret. “We underestimated the level of interest, which we have certainly learned from,” said Jenny.
“Training and education are very important to Vascutek and we are always open to suggestions.”
In summary
September marks Vascutek’s 21st anniversary and it aims to continue the ethos of concentrating not only on products, but encompassing all areas. Jenny concluded, “We are committed to the continued education of the vascular surgery community and its patients. We strive to offer our customers a wide selection of educational materials to meet their continued training needs. We offer multilingual educational materials for use by consultant surgeons, trainee vascular surgeons, nurses and patients.”
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