By SOLA OGUNDIPE
Experts in gynaecology and obstetrics want Nigerian doctors to take the initiative to update their diagnostic skills so that they can be better prepared to provide optimal care in the management of their patients.

One of the experts, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the University Hospital Leicester, in the United Kingdom,  Dr. Adebimpe Matiluko, noted that gaps within the medical practice in Nigeria could be addressed if medical practitioners chose to increase their skills and knowledge.

Matiluko, whose series of lectures have been directed mostly at assisting general and specialist medical practitioners give optimal care to their patients, spoke in Lagos during a workshop on transvaginal ultrasound.

Transvaginal ultrasound

At the workshop organised by Nordica Fertility Clinic, Lagos/Asaba,   for  obstetricians and gynaecologists practicing within the Nigerian environment, the medical expert argued that the essence of skills updating in medical practice was ultimately for the benefit of the patient.

“Medicine is an evolving art and the onus is on us doctors to want to increase and improve our  knowledge. Transvaginal  ultrasound is a skill that is not just for the radiologist or sonographer but for the obstetrician and gynaecologist because it would enhance the management of what we offer our patients,” she pointed out.

Noting that transvaginal scanning  has significant role to play in modern day management in gynaecology and obstetrics, Matiluko said: ”If a doctor has the knowledge and skills to scan with a transvaginal probe, then that doctor will be able to identify the issues in early pregnancy, and issues such as miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy,menstrual loss fibroids, placenta previa, etc., can be identified early so that the  patient can be assisted in the management of such issues whether it is conservative, surgical or medical management and conditions such as ectopic pregnancy can be managed before the patient becomes significantly ill.”

Further, she observed that in  the  Western world, management of  ectopic pregnancy has evolved significantly from a live-saving emergency laparotomy to a minimally invasive procedure as in a planned technique. “In  some well-selected patients,  transvaginal  ultrasound is an operating-saving management such that the patients are offered full or conservative management.

Such management becomes open to you so that you can identify ectopic pregnancy before it ruptures and you can offer a planned procedure, hence there is alot of need to have the skills as an obstetrician/ gynaecologist to perforn transvaginal scanning on the patient as it would definitely improve  management and out come of the patient.

Also speaking on the importance of continuing medical advancement of medical skills of doctors , Medical Directoe, Nordica Fertility Clinic, Lagos/Asaba, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi observed that  an impact was being made in this part of the world through the trainings.

“Identifying the widespread benefits of  the trainings, Ajayi noted: “In terms of equipment, we  have potential to ensure that our doctors make better diagnoses. For instance, one of the participants in a course we ran six months ago in Asaba came back to tell me that he was able to pick up four ectopic pregnancies before they ruptured.

“This development is evidence that the intervention has added significantly to the benefits this doctor is able to offer his patients. In those instances, he was able to offer them medical management. In the past he would have been unable to offer that and there could have been need for emergency surgery.