Doctors, nurses emergency care capacity during road accidents strengthened by recent training
By Linda Machinga
The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) in collaboration with Professional Emergency Care (PEC) of Cape Town South Africa, recently trained emergency care providers in Khomas, Hardap, Karas, Kavango-East and Otjozondjupa regions in a bid to increase capacity in emergency care.
The training took place late last month at the University of Namibia School of Medicine and ended on 1 September. It aimed at increasing capacity in emergency care within the Ministry of Healthy and Social Services. As a result of the clashes in those regions, the emergency medical management team noted a lack of proper on-scene and in-hospital medical treatment for those injured in motor vehicle clashes.
“The training is being conducted to advance the skills and knowledge of Emergency Care Practitioners (ECPs), doctors and nurses. We have three different courses which are International Trauma Life Support Course (ITLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support for Experienced Providers (ACLSEP) and the Basic Life Support (BLS) Istructor course”, said MVA Fund Advanced Life Support Paramedic, Brandon Diergaardt.
The MVA Fund responds to pillar 5 of the Namibian Chapter of the Decade of Action for Safety and once again re-affirms its commitment to developing emergency medical response capacity in Namibia by training 41 Emergency Care Practitioners(ECPs), doctors and nurses on how to care for trauma patients.
According to Diergaardt, the various courses mainly focus on the following: – International Trauma Life Support Course- Equips participants with practical skills on how to take care of trauma patients, Advanced Cardiac Life Support Course -Focuses on management of cardiac arrest and other peri-arrest conditions; ACLS for Experienced Providers Course-It is more intense and focuses both on common and special resuscitation situations and related challenges; Basic Life Support Instructor Course-This is a professional Emergency Care course which intends to train MVA Fund Paramedics to become instructors on BLS for healthcare providers.
The Fund is aware of the ever-changing emergency medical environment and recognises the importance of training emergency care practitioners to stay relevant and address related challenges.
“Therefore, we take pride in the role we play to positively contribute to the advancement of emergency medical response and care capacity which will in turn save lives, ensure quality health care to those affected by road crashes and assist the injured to be taken up in the communities and the economy as soon as possible,” added Diergaardt.
Since the establishment of the training programme three years ago, the Fund has spent approximately N$240,000 annually on 120 participants from Ministry of Health and Social Services who were trained in various emergency care fields.
The University of Namibia School of Medicine has through the provision of training venues, medical equipment and mannequins, ensured the reduction in training costs.
