IMPLEMENTATION OF PRACTICAL CLASS ON MEDICAL DEVICES IN THE CAREER OF PHARMACY AT THE UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL SUR

L.C. GALLO ; M. F. RAZUC; P.M. NATALINI; A.J. CALCAGNO

Rosario

Congreso; 2da Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas; 2012

Universidad Nacional de Rosario

IntroductionAlpha Biomaterials are natural or synthetic substances which do not damage living tissues when they get in contact with them, while at the same time, they maintain their physical and biological effectiveness (e.g. Latex, silicone, polyvinyl chloride). Medical devices are made of biomaterials which have been transformed or processed in order to be used in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease; and in the substitution or modification of the anatomy or physiological processes. Medical devices do not achieve any of their primary intended purposes through chemical action. Because of the sanitary relevance of these devices, it is of the utmost importance that the pharmacist holds a wide knowledge of them. Therefore, it is essential that the student understand in an integral way the features and functionalities of the medical devices often dispensed in a pharmacy. Materials and methods To teach medical devices, a textbook was written (1) containing the main literature review of medical devices dispensed at the pharmacy. The book has a classification of the medical devices according to the anatomical-physiological apparatus where they perform their function. The students at the practical class analyzed each medical device carefully, identifying its characteristics, the material that constituted it, its advantages and disadvantages. For this purpose, the students used the book written by the teachers. Furthermore, the teachers have developed systems made of different medical devices assembled, to show the students how they work. The students had the possibility to make liquids flow through the system and were able to open and close valves and to exchange their parts. One of the systems consisted of a urinary catheter and a urine collection bag assembled, where the student poured a liquid (simulated urine) through the catheter and into the bag. Another system was the one commonly used for drug and blood infusion for both children and adults. Results The results were highly satisfactory. The students acquired the basic required knowledge in a simple and didactic way, finding it easy to understand the characteristics, operation and applications of each medical device. The participation of the students in the practical class and the good marks they obtained in the exams corroborated the effectiveness of the methodology used by the teachers. Conclusions The study tools employed by the teachers allowed the student to achieve a general knowledge of the characteristics and functionality of medical devices. Based on these results, we can conclude that the proposed teaching methodology was highly effective, simple and didactic. Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the Department of Biology, Biochemistry and Pharmacy of the Universidad Nacional del Sur for their support and to RIVERO Labs for their donation of medical devices used in the practical class. Referencias (1)  Gallo L.C, Razuc M.F,  Natalini P.M., Garcia, M., Calcagno A. J. Productos Médicos de Dispensación en Farmacia. 1era ed. Bahía Blanca: EdiUNS, 2012.