Uncategorised Archives - de Smit Medical

Course attendees standing outside the de Smit Medical training suite with course tutor, Julia.

Our introductory and advanced biofeedback courses in September

At the de Smit Medical Learning Academy, we offer two biofeedback courses; the first is an introduction to biofeedback and NMES in pelvic floor muscle dysfunction and the second (always the day after the first) is an advanced look at the same topic. This allows delegates to choose the level of training they need. Some may feel an introductory course is most suitable, for example, if they are just starting out in a new role in the field. Whereas some may...

December’s Bladder Scanner Maintenance Course

Our bladder scanner maintenance training course is designed to equip engineers and technicians with the necessary skills required to perform maintenance, calibration, troubleshooting and repairs of bladder scanners. Depending on the requirements of the group, the course will focus on the BioCon-700, BioCon-900, BioCon-900S and/or BioCon-1100. This one-day course is written and taught by our course tutor, Dr Kenneth Pereira, who has over 37 years of experience teaching electronics and biomedical engineering. We offer this course on-site or at our training...

Early October Female Pelvic Floor Course

At the start of the month, we welcomed 12 delegates to our training facility to take part in the Assessment of Female Pelvic Floor clinical training course. The feedback from this popular course has been fantastic. We asked the group for any comments about the course; a Bladder & Bowel Nurse Specialist commented; “interesting course, very relevant to my practice. I loved everyone’s enthusiasm, it was a good learning environment,” Another attendee wrote, “strongly recommend it for anyone who works in...

de Smit Medical Partners with Eastwood Park Training Centre

de Smit Medical is proud to be partnering with Eastwood Park Training to provide medical equipment for their training centre. Based only five miles from the de Smit Medical offices in South Gloucestershire, Eastwood Park boasts a brand new state of the art training centre that was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal. As the leading provider of technical healthcare engineering training in the UK, we are thrilled to see our range of biomedical test equipment and bladder scanners being...

Group of people standing outside the de Smit Medical offices.

Positive feedback from the latest lower bowel course

'Excellent course. I feel I have learned so much and this I hope will be translated into better patient care and an ability to empower the patient. Thank you.' The feedback from the latest lower bowel course at de Smit Medical has been overwhelmingly positive. It's great to hear that the course will make a difference to patient care. We hope to see some of the attendees again at one of our other courses. We have five in total, three of which...

What exactly is biofeedback?

Why do I find it so difficult to work out if I am doing pelvic floor exercises properly even when I’m practising these exercises on a regular basis? How can I tell if my muscles are becoming any stronger? The answer to these questions is very simple. It’s called ‘biofeedback’. To begin with it's helpful to have a basic understanding of what biofeedback is exactly. There are many different definitions but the best way to describe it is by looking at an example...

How can electrical stimulation help my pelvic floor muscles?

Is it really possible to stimulate a muscle using a machine? How does this type of treatment work and is it painful? Is electrical stimulation better than exercise and is it safe? This post answers these questions as well as giving you information about how to get the maximum benefit out of this type of treatment. Before thinking about using an electrical stimulation unit to activate your pelvic floor muscles, it's helpful to understand how this type of treatment works. Let's look at...

Problems new mums don’t talk about!

Being a new mum is a pretty amazing experience. It’s also a steep learning curve because babies don’t come with a ‘how to look after your new baby’ guidebook! Many women say that there is a lot of helpful information available during pregnancy but not quite so much that after their baby is born. So it’s often easy to ignore any concerns you may have about your own health and to cross your fingers in the hope things will get better. There are...

The three stages of pregnancy

This blog is a lighthearted look at the journey through pregnancy along with some more serious facts about how to look after your body. Stage One: I think I’m pregnant! From really early on there are subtle physical changes that no-one may notice, along with more obvious symptoms that are really very obvious. The journey starts for many women with a home pregnancy kit. Whether you’re alone or you’re sharing the moment this is often a very emotional and exciting time. If...

Assess your own pelvic floor muscles

How often have you been told to remember to practice your pelvic floor exercises? How often have you nodded and said that you do them every day but wondered if you're actually performing them correctly. These muscles are hidden inside which makes it very difficult to work out exactly what is happening and lots of women are not able to tighten their pelvic floor muscles at all. So why is it so important to make sure you are doing your pelvic floor...