The Emirates Health Services (EHS) organized a package of innovative events at the Sharjah Training and Development Center, which are held in cooperation with the Society for Simulation Healthcare, aim to raise awareness of the importance of simulation in developing health cadres and stimulate the integration of simulation into the various health care education and training curricula, in order to improve safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of health care and raise the level of safety and professional competence among health sector workers.
The event witnessed the official launch of two new units for training on advanced simulation skills at Al Qassimi Hospital and Dibba Al Fujairah Hospital. Work is also underway to launch a third unit at Saqr Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah, in addition to developing and expanding the simulation unit at the Training and Development Center.
The activities also included the "Frontline Simulation" program, which consists of a training ambulance and a specialized crew of internationally accredited trainers.
The program provides training using virtual patients and high-precision simulation dolls, anywhere, especially in the front lines, which supports the readiness of health facilities to deal with critical cases.
It also provides "In-Situ Simulation" training on actual systems applied in health facilities.
The events also included the "Journal Club" – a discussion on a recent scientific article in the field of health simulation with the aim to find more about the latest practices and develop criticism and evaluation skills of a scientific article among the attendees.
The event also aims to explore the prospects of scientific research in the field of health education using simulation in the country.
In the same context, the Training & Development Centre organized two contests, the first is 'Simulation trainers' which aims to boost the skills of technical staff working on training life support programs and specialized simulations used in the EHS.
The second is the mock injury makeup 'moulage' competition which aims to discover artistic talent among the EHS employees, by taking shots for fake injuries using materials available at home or workplaces.
Enhancing the efficiency of medical personnel
"The EHS's participation in Healthcare Simulation Week aims to raise the efficiency of medical staff in hospitals and health centers and develop their skills according to the latest health protocols and procedures, in order to support continuous training programs in patient-centered medical care," said HE Dr. Yousef Mohammed Al Serkal, Director General, EHS.
In order to do so, the EHS establishes a safe and integrated simulation environment and unique training for physicians and healthcare professionals, to improve communication between staff and get them prepared to deal with various medical conditions.
Al Serkal added that marking this event also aims to enhance awareness of the medical community about the benefits and qualities of using training simulations to ensure better health care services are provided to patients.
The EHS Director-General noted that employing simulation techniques in health care supports the EHS's efforts to keep abreast of the latest developments in treatment in innovative and sustainable ways and promote and develop training programs for medical staff, with the aim to achieve patient happiness and sustainable investment in future health services, thus promoting the EHS's position in the global competitiveness index in the health field
This comes in line with the EHS's strategy to improve the readiness and efficiency of health facilities by integrating technology into diagnostic and therapeutic methods, as well as its vision and aspirations for the sustainability of health care services in accordance with international standards.
Innovation in the precision of the simulation
Saqr Al-Hemeiri, Director of the Training and Development Center, said that the Healthcare Simulation Week constitutes an occasion to enhance awareness of the medical community about training on clinical skills for health practitioners and provide an experience of training on simulation in healthcare.
Al- Hemeiri pointed to the importance of harnessing healthcare tools to raise the efficiency of specialized medical personnel to deal with various cases and potential scenarios, especially when dealing with critical cases, through innovation in the precision of simulation and provision of clinical practices that correspond to the reality with every single detail.
He noted that the Training and Development Center launched the mobile health training simulation unit last year as one of the initiatives that support the first line of defense for medical training on health technical matters to deal with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The mobile unit represents an added value to the simulation training project and plays a prominent role in enhancing patient safety levels, as well as helps in enhancing the institutional readiness of current and future health facilities, Al Hemeiri said.
He noted that the Training and Development Center has attained international accreditation for training using health simulations from the American Heart Association and the European Resuscitation Council.
It is noteworthy that the objectives of the Healthcare Simulation Week, which concluded on September 19, are: developing and promoting simulation-based medical education; developing behavioral and ethical skills among health workers to achieve the patient's interest and preserve his rights; strengthening cooperation between health academic bodies and hospitals to raise the level of simulation-based medical education; supporting a work environment stimulating innovation and productivity among all healthcare professions to spread knowledge in this field worldwide.