Project “Policlinico Academy: School of neonatal and paediatric surgery and foetal therapies”
THE PROJECT AND ITS OBJECTIVES
The Policlinico Academy is a project developed inside the Milan Policlinico hospital and supported by the Prossimo Mio Foundation.
“Policlinico Academy” is developed following two specific objectives: on the one hand maintaining a standard of excellence in foetal care with the acquisition and improvement of suitable strategies for treating congenital defects (for example spina bifida) and on the other developing a training and tutoring program for medical personnel with the aim of creating a Foetal Centre.
Through the Foetal Centre it will be possible to operate carrying out foetal therapy procedures and administer training in prenatal and neonatal medicine and surgery for national and international medical and nursing staff.
HOW ACTIVITIES ARE DEVELOPED
The objectives set are pursued through various activities proposed by the Academy:
- Training activities with the creation of scholarships or contracts the researchers, with the acquisition of professional figures, with training courses or internships for medical and nursing personnel dedicated to these activities, with the holding of conventions, workshops and congresses on issues relating to foetal or neonatal-paediatric care.
- Support for internships for medical and nursing personnel in external centres.
- Training and tutoring activities in overseas institutions for the creation of similar organisational models.
- Acquisition of avant-garde instrumentation to offer excellent service.
This project, apart from its obvious social usefulness, would represent the maximum expression of the Academy in spreading medical culture.
RESULTS CURRENTLY ACHIEVED
Today, thanks to the contribution of FPM, it has been possible to equip the neonatal surgery department of the Policlinico with the equipment needed to create a digital databank to contain the scientific material, such as video recordings of surgical operations on rare pathologies carried out in the Centre.
In addition short video formats are being edited to highlight the most important phases of the operations carried out at the Centre.
As concerns training activities for overseas structures, the Centre is developing an e-learning platform for doctors in developing countries that concentrates on the innovative surgical techniques used in the paediatric surgery operating unit of the Foundation.
An year of successes during Covid emergency
Despite the Covid emergency, Professor Leva’s neonatal unit has continued with the Academy project providing training for international sanitary structures who wanted to create a Fetal Centre similar to the one present in Mangiagalli. The department was provided with the equipment needed to create a digital databank of scientific material and videos of surgical intervention.
In June 2021 a mini invasive fetal surgery intervention carried out to correct a case of spina bifida with the collaboration of Brazilian colleague Doctor Denise Lapa, a world expert in this technique.
The operation was extremely successful, the fetus came to term and at birth there were no complications of any kind. Involved were not only the Brazilian specialists but the entire staff of the Mangiagalli, both medical (surgeons, obstetricians, anaesthetists, neonatologists) and nursing.
THE E-LEARNING PLATFORM ACCADEMIA POLIS IS NOW ONLINE
Accademia Polis is a virtual platform that gives pediatric surgeons all over the world the possibility to visualize and study videos of complex operations and to research specialized themes.
The goal of this platform is principally to be able to reach doctors in various parts of the world, even those in far away countries or those operating in very difficult situations, so that – thanks to the platform – they can keep updated and learn new operating techniques and the most recent therapy protocols. Access to the platform is free, but it is necessary to register and to demonstrate the correct credentials for registering, including one’s institution.