KNUST School of Medical Science Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department

KNUST School of Medical Science Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the School of Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, also serves as a Clinical Directorate at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). The department therefore provides tertiary level women’s health care and training besides the primary University roles of teaching, research and service to the community.
 
The department started as clinical care department with the inception of Komfo Anokye Hospital in 1955. With the establishment of the School of Medical Sciences in 1975 and with it Komfo Anokye Hospital becoming a Teaching Hospital, the Department thus became an academic department as well. Academic teaching involved the undergraduate obstetrics and gynaecology course under the university, in addition to the already existing nursing and midwifery training under the Ministry of Health. With the establishment of the Ghana Postgraduate Obstetrics and Gynaecology programme in 1989, the Department became accredited for residency training by the West African College of Surgeons under the West African Postgraduate Medical College. Again when the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons was set up in 2003, the department was accredited for residency training under the Ghana College. Since 2008 subspecialty training is being done in the department under the Ghana College.
 
The undergraduate obstetrics and gynaecology course which is run under the University (as part of the MB ChB programme) is detailed below.

Structure of Faculty

  • Head of Department
  • Examinations Officer
  • Programmes Officer
  • Assistant Programmes Officer

Rationale

The primary goal of the undergraduate Obstetrics and Gynaecology course is to provide medical students with the Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (including patient care decorum, communication, duty sense and ethics) needed to provide a generalist level women’s health care.
Objectives
By the end of the course the student should be able to

  • Understand core Obstetrics and Gynaecology including Fertility Regulation
  • Take a comprehensive obstetric/gynaecologic history
  • Perform physical examination of the obstetric/gynaecologic patient
  • Interpret and synthesise the findings from the history and physical examination to make a diagnosis and/or differential diagnosis
  •  Select appropriate laboratory and ancillary investigations as baseline and/or affirming/refuting the diagnoses
  • Formulate and discuss obstetric/gynaecologic management plans, including treatment, follow-up, referral, patient education, counselling and case disposal
  • Describe common obstetric/gynaecologic diagnostic and operative/interventional procedures including their indications and complications

Attrition Rate: N/A
Student Staff Ratio: 1:14
Student Workload:
Course Contents/The Subject Strands comprise the following:

  • Basic Sciences for Obstetrics and Gynaecology
  • Clinical methods in Obstetrics
  • Normal Obstetrics
  • Abnormal Obstetrics
  • Medical conditions in pregnancy
  • Other Obstetric issues
  • General Gynaecology
  • Gynaecologic Oncology
  • Gynaecologic Endocrinology
  • Contemporary issues in Gynaecology

Requirements for graduation:
The requirement for graduation in the course is the successful completion of the continuous and final assessments as detailed below
Continuous Assessment
This assessment will take into account:

  • Theoretical knowledge (ie class tests/assignments in the course of the clerkship or at the end of the Junior Clerkship).
  • Clinical Skills as demonstrated during practical sessions.
  • Attendance at all teaching sessions as monitored by recorded attendances and the log-book.
  • Character and Attitude shown at lectures, seminars, tutorials, wards, theatre, clinics.
  • The book of case records.
  • Examination at the end of the Senior Clerkship, consisting of a Written Paper, Clinicals and Orals. The format of this Class Examination is the same as that of the Final MB ChB 1B examination.
  • The Continuous Assessment forms one-third of the final assessment of the course. No student will be allowed to take the final assessment, which is the Final MB, ChB Part 1B Examination in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, without having satisfactorily completed all the various parts of the course in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Students who are not allowed to take the Final MB, ChB Part 1B on this ground will have to repeat the entire course.
  • Final Assessment
    The final assessment of the course is the Obstetrics and Gynaecology component of the Final MB, ChB Part 1B Examination of the School of Medical Sciences.

    Research Work in the Department:

    • Hypertension in pregnancy
    • Obstetric and gynaecological ultrasound
    • Effects of malaria and helminthic co-infection on birth outcome
    • Genital chlamydial and gonococcal infection
    • Contraceptive use among high-risk women
    • University students knowledge and practice of emergency contraception
    • Broad ligament haematoma following snake bite
    • Body mass index (MNI) and obstetric outcome

    This is a vibrant Academic Department keen in collaborating with other centres of excellence in research and manpower training to help improve women’s health. The department has created an enabling teaching environment by providing textbooks, contributed by all lecturers in the department, for use by students.

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