Practical training concept for perfusionists at the heart and diabetes center Nordrhein-Westfalen

BackgroundIncreasing regulations and requirements of advisory bodies, in particular the Joint Federal Committee and the Medical Service of the health insurance funds, make it necessary to employ only demonstrably well-trained perfusionists. The minimum requirement for this staff is EBCP certification. Currently there is limited availability of such specialists on the German market. Therefore, the qualification of young people in this area is of central importance. The aim of this paper is to strengthen the training of perfusionists at our centre, to standardise the process and to provide the respective student with a "roadmap" to their internship.Material & MethodsThe structure is based on a rough division of the 24 weeks of internship. This is described in detail in the following and is backed up with the learning objectives for the respective time periods.ResultsAt our centre, practical training has been standardized and clear responsibilities have been defined. Furthermore, as a centre of maximum care in the field of cardiac surgery, we can offer students the necessary number of perfusions in just six months to meet the requirements of the ECBP for practical training. According to this concept, 20 perfusionists have been successfully trained in the last 8 years. All of them have passed the exams and have been certified according to EBCP.ConclusionThe aim of the practical semester is for the student to be in a position at the end of the semester to independently supervise simple cardiac surgery procedures with the aid of the Extra- Corporal Circulation (ECC) and to carry this out in accordance with the currently valid guidelines and directives (1-8) and the departmental procedural instructions based on them. Great emphasis is placed to the students becoming aware of their competence to act, knowing their limits and being able to assess when these limits have been reached and the involvement of experienced colleagues is necessary to ensure patient safety.