Professionals working in the healthcare industry were exposed to training in emergency medicine yesterday at a conference which was hosted by The Caribbean Emergency Medicine Association (CEMA) and the University of the West Indies (UWI).
One of the organisers, Dr. Reginald King, a Consultant in Emergency Medicine, told The Barbados Advocate that this conference provides an opportunity for these stakeholders in the medical fraternity to gain new knowledge as there is always a need for these professionals to update their skills, he said.
“Continuing education is an important part of medical practice so there is always a need for education and learning exercises for physicians,” he indicated.
It is also about helping these professionals attain credits: “Over the last couple of years the Medical Council has instituted professional education credits so it lends itself as an opportunity for us to provide credits for family physicians as well as to put emergency medicine back on the front burner.”
The conference included eight lectures which looked at various aspects of emergency medicine that would be of interest to those in private practice. This was followed by a series of workshops in the afternoon. Some of these lectures included Preparing Your Office for Emergencies, Red Flags in the Patient with Chest Pain, Harmful Paediatric Ingestions, Management of Foreign Bodies and An Approach to Minor Head Injuries in Children.
Meanwhile, the workshops covered such topics as resuscitation, wounds and lacerations, pre-hospital care and electrocardiogram (ECG) reading.
The conference also provides the medical fraternity with an opportunity to revitalize CEMA, which was founded almost 20 years ago and which has been dormant for some time. The President of CEMA is Dr. Joanne Bradford and the Secretary is Dr. Chaynie Williams, the Head of the Accident and Emergency Department at the QEH.
Approximately 160 participants from the QEH, the private medical sector, the Emergency Management Department and the Ambulance Service, among others, were in attendance at the conference. This list of professionals included doctors, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and medical students.
Dr. King advised participants to use the conference wisely: “I encourage them to make this as the start of their reading in emergency medicine and I encourage them to be ready for this conference again which would be in another six months.” (PJT)
