A 4-Day Comprehensive Emergency Care & Life Support Training Course Concludes hosted Father Muller Simulation Center
Mangaluru: Health care in developing countries including India has traditionally had a limited focus on emergency medical care. Common medical emergencies like Cardiovascular, Respiratory, trauma, obstetric and poisoning account for more than 50% of the deaths in the country. Road Traffic Accident is the third commonest cause among deaths due to non-communicable diseases. There has been a 32% increase in road traffic accidents in India since 2007. Approximately 17 people die every hour due to road traffic accidents. Compounding this is the fact that most of the emergencies and unintentional injuries occur far from the tertiary hospital and closer to communities. Approximately 50% of road accident deaths could have been prevented if “golden hour” assistance was available.
Emergency medical care has three components: Care in the community; Transportation from the site of injury/emergency to the health facility; and Care on arrival at the receiving health facility. Research studies indicate that inadequate provision of pre-hospital emergency care, poor triage system for incoming patients, and inappropriate transport, jeopardized the lives of these patients. Presently, very few in the citizenry are trained to be first responders. Even medical students and postgraduates in training are taught to focus on making the right diagnosis and less on principles of triage and emergency management.
In June 2014, JeevaRaksha- (Saving Lives, Assuring Care) – A Comprehensive Emergency Care and Life Support Training Course for Medical Interns and Medical Professionals providing Primary and Secondary level health care was launched following a collaborative effort (through an MOU) of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka (henceforth RGUHS), Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (henceforth SVYM) and University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA (henceforth UofU) with a Vision – To strengthen health system and save lives in the State by ensuring availability of adequately trained and certified Graduate and Post Graduate Medical professionals and nursing staff in Emergency Care and Life Support, for health facilities in the state”. For this the collaboration initiated:
– A 4-day course focussing on recognizing and managing critical illnesses that are common in the Indian setting: respiratory, cardiac, obstetric, pediatric, trauma and poisoning. This is unique, holistic, and wholesome.
– A new curriculum termed ‘Jeevaraksha Basic Life Support’ – a 1-day basic course for ‘first responders’ during medical emergencies too has been developed and piloted. The unique course – JeevaRaksha – India’s first Comprehensive Emergency Care and Life Support (henceforth ECLS) training course was designed following an assessment conducted by SVYM among doctors in the field. There was no single curriculum (including BLS, ACLS, ATLS, NALS, PALS) which, as a standalone, comprehensively addressed the needs of the Primary Care Physicians and other first health care providers who commonly encounter emergencies pertaining to illnesses of respiratory, cardiac, obstetric, pediatric, trauma, burns poisoning and animal bites.
Since its initiation, more than 250 medical faculties from more than 10 medical Colleges affiliated to RGUHS in Karnataka have been trained as Jeeva Raksha trainers. The 4-day ECLS course is recognized by Karnataka Medical Council as a CME and has been awarding 6 credit hours for the training programme 1. The training has been well received and numerous testimonials have been made as to the effectiveness and relevance of the training to an Indian setting. Also, three medical colleges have been certified as JeevaRaksha training centres.
Based on the success of the 3-year pilot project, the three partners have agreed to continue working and extended the MoU for three more years. Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences is also working on a directive to make this program mandatory for all Interns and Postgraduate medical students in its affiliated colleges. From the beginning, it was hoped that the emerging model would be included in the up-gradation of the medical curriculum by the then Medical Council of India (MCI)2 and be recognized by other accrediting agencies like National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), Private Medical Establishment Act etc. The success of this initiative has raised the interest of other institutions/Medical colleges outside Karnataka too. They have been requesting for JeevaRaksha training in their set up too.
Compared to other existing courses, JeevaRaksha course has been found to be very cost-effective as evidenced by testimonials by medical colleges. Several highly qualified international experts have volunteered and expressed interest in JeevaRaksha activities and have offered to contribute their skills in other aspects of emergency care, like up-gradation of emergency departments, setting up emergency care protocols, management of mass disasters (casualty), and establishing district and state-level disaster management protocols etc.
And such course named “A Comprehensive Emergency Care and Life Support Training Course for Medical Interns and Medical Professionals providing Primary and Secondary level health care was held for 4-days at Father Muller College and Hospital, Kankanady campus from 27 November till 1 December. The valedictory of this course was held on Sunday, 1 December 2019 at 10.30 am at the Fr Muller A V Hall, organized by Jeva Rakhsha Trust and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru with Father Muller Simulation Center, Mangaluru.
The programme was presided over by Director FMCI, Fr Richard A Coelho and Chief Guests, Dr Ramkumar Nair, CEO, Jeeva Raksha Trust and Dr Vijay Bhaskar Reddy, Uni of Utah, USA, and also the Trustee of Jeeva Raksha. Both, Dr Ramkumar and Dr Vijay Bhasker Reddy praised the simulation centre at Father Muller’s and said that such a state-of-the-art centre will benefit the doctors and students. Fr Richard Coelho also complimented the team of the FMCI simulation centre for keeping the centre active.
Fr Richard further said, “The Father Muller Simulation and Skills Centre is a state of the art, multi-professional training facility equipped with the most advanced medical simulators and skills trainers. Established in November 2015 as the first functioning advanced simulation centre in Mangaluru, FMSSC is committed to inculcate evidence-based simulation competence into the healthcare curriculum. Clinical simulations are activities that mimic the reality of a clinical environment and are designed to provide learners with opportunities to learn in a safe, friendly and risk-free controlled environment. The centre, one of its kind in India has been providing healthcare training to the non-healthcare community, clinical undergraduates, postgraduates and qualified professionals from the fields of medicine, nursing and other allied sciences. The centre is the first medical college in Mangaluru to be accredited by the American Heart Association as an authorized training centre for CPR & ECC courses, which we are proud of”.
The welcome address was done by Dr Lulu Sherif- the in-charge of FMCI Simulation centre, and the vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Sumanth D- Senior Instructor. Dean Dr J P Alva also spoke and praised the FMCI Simulation Centre team for their work and achievements. The programme was compered by Dr Nicole Pereira, from Dept of Pharmacology.
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