The UCH bladder manikin – A locally designed teaching aid for suprapubic catheterization in low-resource countries

Introduction and objectivesThe ability to perform emergency open or percutaneous suprapubic catheterization (SPC) is an indispensable skill in medical practice. In Nigeria, the majority of the general medical practitioners and non-urological residents lack formal training in SPC. A low-cost manikin was designed to train such doctors. This paper describes the development of the manikin and assesses its usefulness in teaching SPC.MethodsThe Ibadan PIUTA (Pan African Urological Surgeons Association [PAUSA] Initiative for Urological Training in Africa) Centre organized a workshop during which general medical practitioners and non-urological residents were taught SPC using the locally manufactured manikin. At the end, the effectiveness of the manikin in SPC training was assessed using questionnaires. Six months later, the questionnaires were distributed again to the surgical residents to evaluate the impact of the training on their practice.ResultsTwenty-five medical practitioners attended the workshop. The open and closed techniques were taught using the manikin. By the end of the workshop, 100% of the participants stated that the manikin was an effective teaching aid. Six months later, 67% of the surgical residents had independently performed successful SPCs, using the percutaneous technique alone (83%) or both the open and percutaneous methods (17%).ConclusionThe UCH bladder manikin is an effective, low-cost and easily manufactured aid for teaching doctors emergency SPC. We recommend its use in centers in low-resource countries.