The exciting Summer School story continues! On Wednesday, the Summer School activities were covered by the Britons! More than two thirds of students had signed up for a workshop by Delta Surgical (Rowena), taught by dr. Ashpole from Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. In addition, students attended lectures by dr. Price about neuroimaging and neuro-oncology. In this lecture, the University of Cambridge neurosurgeon talked about various revolutions in these fields and closed the gap between different specialties: from pathology and physics to neuroscience and neurosurgery.
For the first time ever, the workshop with 3D-printed heads was organised for medical students instead of registrars or other professionals that are already more experienced in the (bio)medical field and for the first time, it was organised abroad of the UK!
The workshop by dr. Ashpole is all about learning the essentials of neurosurgery: amongst others, trepanation, draining and creating skull flaps have passed. After a short introduction with the necessary safety precautions by dr. Ashpole, a representative from Stryker, one of the largest medical technology firms in the world, taught students how to handle various drilling devices. Students could record their own surgery with a video glass to evaluate their performance and look back on this unique experience. Some Nijmegen neurosurgeons also visited the workshop and were very impressed by the quality and superb reality of the models.
Also, on Wednesday and Thursday, there was time for the students to work on their reviews. Almost all areas that were covered during the Summer School are featured in the presentations: from epilepsy and deep brain stimulation to craniosynostosis, neurotraumatology and neuro-oncology. On Friday, these reviews are presented in short pitches and these will be assessed by a representation of the Neurosurgical Centre, with whom we have worked together very closely.
On Thursday, the day started early again with a lecture by Erkan Kurt, a neurosurgeon in Nijmegen, who talked about fascinating historical cases in neurosurgery and innovative ways of reinventing neurosurgical treatment, which provoked interesting discussion and food for thought. After lunch, dr. Ter Laan used neuroanatomy and different imaging techniques to illustrate possibilities in neuro-oncology. In addition, some major paradigm shifts that amazed all students were presented, that also led to a series of questions. After that, professor De Leeuw talked about the clinical manifestations of young stroke, which is one of the areas of interest of Radboudumc’s Department of Neurology with international appeal. This elucidated the students again in the coupling of neuroscience and neurosurgery, indispensable for an innovative and creative working environment. Lastly, dr. Ashpole, the neurosurgeon who supervised one and a half days of workshops during these two days, educated students about entrepreneurship in medicine and stimulated them to just take the step. With all his enthusiasm, we are sure that the message was conceived well.
In the evening, we had dinner together at the historical De Waagh building, to show the students how beautiful Nijmegen is!
www.nccn.nl
http://www.deltasurgical.co.uk/rowena
www.stryker.com
