Dr. Polisi: How PAPSEP has helped my training...

Dr. Polisi Zawadi is a third year paediatric surgical trainee, supported by Kids Operating Room, and user of our PAPSEP platform. 

Our PAPSEP platform recently celebrated the successful completion of its first 3 year cycle. We spoke to Dr. Polisi about the impact of the platform on her training...

What made you specialise in Paediatric surgery?

Ever since medical school, and in my practice as a general physician, I always had a particular interest in children's health.

In my country, management of children's surgical cases is done by general surgeons, with little or no specialist knowledge for paediatric surgery.

So that, coupled with becoming a mother myself, led me to decide to pursue training in paediatric surgery.

What impact has PAPSEP made in your training?

PAPSEP has had a positive impact in my training in paediatric surgery. It's made my studying more organised and objective as it's based on literature and updated publications & guidelines. Topics are presented to us like examining and treating real patients.

I've found topics on 'Professionalism' to be particularly useful. They've helped me to manage my daily routine. These teachings can't be found in any other teaching program or book.

Can you think of a specific incident or case which you couldn’t have managed without PAPSEP or that the training there significantly improved your ability to handle?

We recently faced a challenge where an unexpected emergency case had left us unable to finish our operating list. There was time to perform one elective case only - we had to choose amongst the children waiting who to operate on. As a trainee, I had to make a good case and propose it to the chief surgeon.

With knowledge I had gained from a module 'how to run an efficient Operation List', I was able to propose to my trainer that a teenage boy I was treating with Hypersplenism should be the priority before finishing for the day. Even though there were younger children on the list, I knew his case was the most urgent due to knowledge gained in PAPSEP.

After completing your training, what are you looking forward to doing next?

After completing my training, I will go back to my home country and serve my people, putting into practice all I have been learning.