EMS training intensifies

DPI, Guyana, Friday, October 20, 2017

A cadre of medical specialists comprising physicians, technicians and nurses continue training under the Emergency Medical Service (EMS), Guyana programme. Dr. Zulfikar Bux, Medical Director, of EMS updated that the exercise is in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Medical Centre in Tennessee, USA, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Ministry of Public Health and the University of Guyana.

The EMS is currently engaged with nurses, who at the end of a short-term training period, will be conferred with a degree in specialised nursing services. According to Dr. Bux, “this is one of the first specialist degree conferring nursing program in the world, in emergency medicine.”

As part of the training model being rolled out by EMS, 15 nurses are now enlisted in the programme, while others are being recruited for the beginning of the new course.

Concerning the preparation of doctors and physicians, Dr. Bux added, “we have managed to train emergency physicians. So far, we have had nine emergency specialists graduate, two have gone back to the Caribbean; one to Antigua and the other to Grenada. We have the other seven at the GPHC.

The continuous training of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) continues. This group comprises mainly physicians who will continually be trained in the area of emergency medicine.

“We have 57 trained currently. We would have trained 120 but 57 are working with the public system while the others are working with the police services, the army services and of course at Bartica and with a few other regional health services,” Dr. Bux explained.

These training opportunities made available to medical personnel are in an effort to develop a line of emergency specialists to serve the entire country’s population during the next five years and thereafter.

Chief Instructor and Representative of the Vanderbilt Medical Centre, Dr. Shannon Langston said, “our plan is to continue to develop the capacity of the pre-hospital emergency medicine system as well as the in-hospital physician component. Currently, we want to foster leadership within the emergency medical services and foster the ability for them to train themselves you can have leadership within the EMTs”

He further explained that Guyana can soon become independent of the medical centre’s work in Guyana. This means that all areas throughout the country will benefit from this level of pre-hospital transport and care where needed, whether by air, land or water.

 

By: Delicia Haynes