Second cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (cardiac POCUS) course held at the Cape Heart Institute as part of the ‘Hospital partnerships’ programme

For the second time, the cardiac point-of-care ultrasound course (cardiac POCUS) was held as part of the ‘Hospital partnerships’ programme between the Saarland University Medical Center in Germany and the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa.

The ‘Hospital Partnership’ project is conducted by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), with funding from the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Foundation, the German Ministry of Health, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Currently, there are over 550 established ‘Hospital partnerships’ in Germany.
On the German side, the ‘Hospital partnership’ is led by Prof. Michael Böhm, Prof. Bernhard Haring, and Dr Julian Hövelmann from the Department of Internal Medicine III – Cardiology, Angiology, and Intensive Care Medicine at the Saarland University Medical Center in Germany. The South African partners are Prof. Karen Sliwa and Dr Charle Viljoen from the Cape Heart Institute and the Groote Schuur Hospital at the University of Cape Town.

The project's primary goal is to train young physicians in South Africa in handheld cardiac point-of-care echocardiography. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) refers to the use of portable ultrasound devices directly at the site of medical care, such as bedside or in the emergency department. POCUS enables healthcare professionals to acquire and interpret ultrasound images on-site. The use of POCUS allows for faster medical decision-making, which is particularly advantageous in emergencies or in settings with limited access to advanced imaging modalities.

POCUS devices were procured through the ‘Hospital partnership’ project, and participants received theoretical and practical training in a two-day course. This year’s course took place on November 30 and December 1, 2024, at the Cape Heart Institute. The long-term objective is to enable South African physicians, including those serving in rural healthcare settings, to leverage the diagnostic benefits of point-of-care echocardiography.
Thirty participants from various hospitals across South Africa attended the course. The participants' feedback was very positive. It was a great pleasure to observe their eagerness to learn and their enthusiasm.