A collaborative effort between the Governments of Guyana and Canada paved the way for 25 healthcare service providers at the Georgetown Public Hospital to undergo much-needed trauma care training.
The first training session was conducted on Monday at Project Dawn, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown by the Canadian Network for International Surgery.
Trauma Coordinator at the hospital, Dr Tracy Bovell, during the opening ceremony, explained that in 2019, the last training session was completed. This year, the Georgetown Public Hospital received a grant and a renewal of the trauma team’s training license, valid three years, from the institution.
Now the healthcare service providers will benefit from the sessions that incorporates online platforms and physical training sessions.
“As of this year we are going digital. We have started on our platform and this course is using Moodle so they can learn at their own pace and we bring them in so they can have their practical sessions and as we progress in trauma team training we have improved in adapting to what is evidence-based, what is the latest in care what is up to date information and what is the latest in technology,” Dr Bovell said.
The revitalisation of this training programme is significant because global records suggest that 8% of deaths around the world are due to injuries with 90% of them occurring in low and middle-income countries.
Director of the Curriculum Development at the Canadian Network for International Surgery, Dr Ronald Lett, said the best way to mitigate these deaths and possible disabilities caused by injuries is to ensure persons are adequately trained to treat injuries.
“We want people that are injured to survive, we want them to survive as much as possible without a disability so that they can return to their homes and carry on if we are going to be successful at this to respond to the huge burden of death and disability we need a lot of participants, we need a lot of health professionals that are well trained and that is what the trauma team training is about,” Dr Lett said.
While Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony urged the service providers to incorporate teamwork in every aspect of responding to patients’ needs. He explained that in Accident and Emergency (A&) care, first responders must remember that the patient is the main concern and not the individual tasks given to each professional.
“Very often a couple minutes can make a big difference and if we have teams that understand what to do, in those critical minutes, we can change the dynamics for our patients and so it is very, very important training and I do hope that you pay close attention and you leave here learning how to work as a team,
“In our health sector I’ve seen too many persons don’t manage the patient as a team. Different people might be managing different parts of the patient which is not the ideal thing so we need people to work as a team and you work for the patient,” the Health Minister said.
The training for healthcare providers in trauma care will be expanded to benefit all medical professionals. It is important to provide refresher courses and access to new scientific methods to improve patient care, the Minister said.
