The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) has launched a preliminary training course for its community capacity building initiative, taking place under the supervision of the Emergency and Risk Preparedness Management.

The initiative aims to expand the circle of preparedness and readiness in order to provide requisite healthcare to all segments of society, especially patients with neurological and respiratory diseases, the elderly, heart patients, and those living in places remote from the medical and emergency service centres of Abu Dhabi.

Seha has completed the preliminary course by training 27 of its staff at the company’s headquarters, after they successfully passed all the practical and theoretical tests.

The second phase will be launched in due course, after the completion of the necessary arrangements in coordination with the Fatima College of Health Sciences, where participants will be trained on how to perform Basic Life Support (BLS).

Seha will launch this course into the public domain at a later date. The course is intended to achieve the aim of enabling the paramedics, and contacts from relatives of a patient, to accurately assess the critical situation, report it, and then deal with it expertly and objectively.

This will minimise the medical danger sustained in many instances. Subsequently, the paramedic will be able to apply proactive preventive measures to eliminate danger to the patient, as well as maintaining vital functions until the arrival of rescue teams or a first responder.

This initiative achieves a quality combination of efforts between Seha as the major healthcare provider in Abu Dhabi, and the Abu Dhabi Police Ambulance as the major field healthcare provider.

The course targets two segments of community members, and aims to train them within two tranches.

The first tranche targets patients who do not have training in the medical field. They will be trained on how to perform a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), automated external defibrillator (AED), and first aid. The course includes background information to people with no medical awareness and improves their knowledge and potential.

The second tranche targets patients who have information or capacity in the medical field, such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical technicians, regardless of their current profession. The course includes BLS training, which comprises the same skills as the first tranche, but with a more complex and specialised level that match their knowledge and potential.

Khalifa Al-Ketbi, deputy chief of Operations, Seha, said: “This training initiative promotes medical knowledge and capabilities of community members, by providing them with training accredited by the American Heart Association.

“Participants will be given a two-year international license that focuses on three axes: CPR, the use of AED, and first aid. By undertaking this programme, Seha aims to formulate a roadmap and a work methodology in order for this project to be consistent with the principles of sustainability and corporate work.”

Al-Ketbi added that the methodology of the project, which Seha aspires to apply in all its Health and Ambulatory Healthcare Facilities, is aimed at achieving highly accurate and professional standards of care for those patients in high-risk groups within Seha’s affiliated hospitals.

This will be undertaken as part of the monitoring and investigation process of cases, which include high-risk cases. At a later date, any of the patient’s relatives who reside with him/her or those who are tending him/her during the healing process will be able to monitor the patient prior to leaving hospital.

This will enable them to complete their training process before the actual checkout of the patient from the hospital. The training process will be completed when the patient checks out of the hospital and safely returns to their place of residence.

This indicative and cognitive approach is an essential component in creating a culture of preparedness and readiness with regard to health risks to community. By undergoing this process, Seha intends that panic will be avoided where possible, and medical emergencies will be dealt with effectively, due to an authentic consolidation of what everyday people can actually do, should do and what should be avoided.

Emergencies will be minimised in terms of severity, as it will be possible for members of the public to consolidate the situation until the arrival of paramedics or emergency medical services. Once the paramedics arrive, it will also be possible for members of the public to give a summary of the crisis situation. This will increase the chances of identifying the problem quickly, and will lead to a better chance of recovery and overcoming the emergency. – TradeArabia News Service