Transforming diabetic foot care - Glasgow Caledonian University

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page four News Anchorman praises award winning students John MacKay with REAL WoRLD winners 23,000 nurses serve 145 million people in Bangladesh - compared to 680,000 nurses serving 60 million in the UK (GCCN) STV news anchorman John MacKay was full of praise for GCU’s journalism students when he presented awards to the winners of the Real WoRLD employability competition. John, who also presents Scotland Tonight, urged students to take advantage of every opportunity, and to make the most of work experience placements to get their feet in the door of the highly competitive media industry. “Work experience is invaluable and it is a great chance to make a good impression. Many people in this industry have built successful careers on the back of an impressive work experience placement. The most important thing is to demonstrate that you are interested in the opportunities and experiences to be gained by work experience – you wouldn’t believe how many people come in and just sit on Facebook and Twitter,” said John. “That’s not to say that social media is not a useful tool. I am a big fan of GCU’s Caley Chat opening title sequence, which I first saw on Twitter.” Competitors were tasked with interviewing fellow students who have improved their employability skills through work experience. They then told their stories in a print article, radio/video package or on-line slide show. First prize went to Rachael Fulton for her film about Events Management students Ally Turnbull and Claire Stuart, who set up their own company, ‘The Company of Wolves’. As well as a cash prize, Rachael will spend a week at STV on a work experience placement. The other winners were Craig Telfer, Louise Douglas, Antony Bushfield and Harriet Brace. They won a cash prize funded by GCU LEAD’s Real WoRLD project and an internship with one of the employers involved in the competition, including the Daily Record, PR companies and the press offices of the Scottish Funding Council and British Transport Police. Professor Barbara Parfitt Celebrating International Nurses Day Professor Barbara Parfitt ensured that International Nurses Day was a truly global experience, with events taking place in Mongolia and Bangladesh. Starting with an address to a global health conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Professor Parfitt then returned to the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to celebrate with students. She says: “Our students held a small event in the college on the 12th but on the 17th, when I got back, we held a celebration and candle ceremony with first and second year students taking their nurses oath. “Last year, Princess Anne attended the ceremony and this time we invited the new Director of Nursing Services in Bangladesh to be our chief guest. We emphasise that our students will be ‘international nurses’ to distinguish them from those being trained in poorer quality colleges and schools. We want them to feel proud and to feel part of the larger, international community of nursing. The profession is looked down on here but I believe we are changing attitudes.” Professor Parfitt’s five decade long career has taken her across the world. She has worked in the rural mountains of Afghanistan and Bhutan as a community nurse and midwife, as well as posts closer to home in London and at Manchester University. A move to GCU in 1995 led to a new career direction when Professor Parfitt agreed to take on the challenge of establishing the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Bangladesh, a country where nurses are poorly regarded but desperately needed. In 2009, Principal and Vice Chancellor Pamela Gillies, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Trust in Bangladesh, reached agreement to establish a college for the education of nurses and midwives in Dhaka. The college opened to students the following year, offering the opportunity to train to the highest standards through the provision of quality education and research. Two years on, it continues to go from strength to strength, with regular visits from GCU nursing students, academics and researchers helping to maintain close links with the Glasgow campus. Professor Parfitt believes the college offers young women more than the chance of a career – its work will impact on the community health needs of Bangladesh while encouraging new life skills for young women who are too often caught in a cycle of early marriage, early child-bearing and early death. Professor Parfitt has also recently returned from the World Health Congress in Washington, which was attended by more than 3,000 delegates and aims to promote social business, technology for health and innovations in health care. She said: “I was part of the delegation with Professor Yunus, and we met potential donors and partners for health projects, including the nursing college.” Did you know… Bangladesh currently has more doctors than trained nurses and high maternal and child mortality statistics. “I believe we are making progress and that attitudes are starting to change” theCaledonian Barbara Parfitt with Grameen Caledonian College students Professor Barbara Parfitt
Transforming diabetic foot care in India At 60 million, India has more diabetics than anywhere else in the world (International Diabetes Foundation) News Flying colours for LILAC page five LILAC Ladies Professor Stuart Baird and Christine Skinner in India Two GCU podiatrists have been helping transform the care of India’s diabetes patients, where the disease has been identified by WHO as a pandemic. Professor Stuart Baird and Christine Skinner have been training physicians in managing the complications caused by diabetes, which leads to the amputation of a limb every 30 seconds around the world. The former World Health Organisation consultants in diabetic foot disease partnered with Calicut’s Institute of Palliative Medicine and Trivandum’s Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences to run academic and practical workshops for 140 physicians last month. The workshops were funded by Dr P Mohamad Ali, Chair of the Mfar Group and the University’s partner in Oman, Caledonian College of Engineering, and demonstrated to physicians the techniques required to assess and manage the complications caused by diabetes. The loss of sensation and poor blood supply to the feet and legs caused by diabetes contribute to high levels of amputation across India. It is the second time Stuart and Christine have run the workshops. Last year the duo reached hundreds of physicians in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai after winning South East Asia Development funding from the Scottish Government to take their expertise to India. Stuart said: “Diabetes is a massive problem in India, and its complications can be devastating for individuals and an enormous burden on the health care system. Additionally, the socio-economic burden of limb amputation cannot be overestimated. There is a limited knowledge base and expertise in India and physicians have limited knowledge of the vital early identification, detection and management of diabetic foot disease, which is considered as the major risk factor in non-traumatic limb amputation worldwide. We hope the physicians we met can use this new knowledge to assess diabetic feet early, identify complications and advise their patients on practical issues such as not walking bare foot when they have lost sensation in the soles of their feet as barefoot walking is a common practice in India. That kind of advice can make an enormous difference to patients’ lives.” Said Christine: “We were so impressed with the participants’ eagerness to learn and improve their skills for the benefit of their patients. We felt humbled by their enthusiasm and by the amazing work and great standard of care at both institutions. The Institute of Palliative Medicine, for example, is run largely on charitable donations and has extremely limited resources, but it is doing incredible work in difficult conditions. The care its patients receive is superb.” Jerry Philip, of Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “The programme was well received by senior doctors, diabetologists, podiatrists and senior nursing and palliative care personnel who had a high appreciation for the eminent speakers. We look forward for many more associations like this in the near future.” “ I am delighted that the university agreed to send its eminent professors across the continent to train our physicians and medical staff to effectively manage and deal with the complications related to diabetics” Dr P Mohamad Ali, Chair of the Mfar Group GCU hosted the international LILAC (Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference) last month – the first time the conference has been held in Scotland. For four days, the Saltire Centre was home to 109 delegates, from 20 countries spanning five continents. They enjoyed a lively programme featuring three prestigious keynote speakers, interactive workshops, symposiums, presentations and a popular ‘speed dating’ session, where delegates got to exchange different ideas. Feedback from conference delegates has been very positive, with praise for everything from the location to the catering – with Tunnocks wafers proving particularly popular! Student Malgorzata Fedorowska helped with the conference as part of her MSc in International Events Management. She says: “The conference in general was well organised and offered a healthy variety of workshops and networking opportunities. From my observation I noticed that the location of GCU, the support of university staff and volunteers who backed the project, and the facilities and strengths of the campus were as significant in shaping the conference in a practical sense as the chosen theme set the academic parameters.” “ LILAC is a truly international conference and showcased GCU and Glasgow as a great venue. Staff from across the departments came together to make it such a successful event. I feel the quality of the keynote speakers and session presenters was very high and we have had excellent feedback from the attendees” Heather Marshall, Senior Librarian theCaledonian
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Transforming diabetic foot care - Glasgow Caledonian University

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