SAFMC CONDUCTS EMERGENCY CARE WORKSHOP FOR INTERNATIONAL DOCTORS

As part of the 13th International Conference on Emergency Medicine (ICEM), the Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps (SAFMC) was invited by the Society for Emergency Medicine in Singapore (SEMS) to conduct the pre-conference Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Workshop.

The two-day course is an internationally recognised course designed to train doctors to provide immediate medical attention to trauma patients.

Held on 7 and 8 Jun at the SAF Medical Training Institute (SMTI), 22 doctors - from countries such as Australia Canada, India and Malaysia - learnt about the finer points of patient management in specialised areas such as abdominal trauma, shock and musculo-skeletal trauma, amongst other topics.

Working on realistically moulaged patients, the doctors in attendance had first hand experience in treating severe injuries. They were taught to look beyond the obvious, visible injuries and "hunt" for hidden issues which are immediately threatening to patients' lives. Moulage is the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training emergency care professionals.

For example, the participants were told never to assume it was safe to move the patient in the case of suspected spinal injuries. Instead, the doctors were given a step-by-step methodology on how to ascertain the health of the spine.

"In cases where spinal injuries are suspected, clinical clearance of the spine takes precedence over the radiological clearance of the spine," asserted Lieutenant-Colonel (NS) (Dr) Kenneth Mak, Course Director ATLS, during the session on spinal injuries. In plain terms, a physician cannot rely solely on medical imaging technologies such as X-rays to determine a patient's condition. Instead, they were told to use their professional judgement based on ATLS principles to diagnose the injury.

The ATLS framework is expressed by the simple mnemonic ABCDE, which stands for Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disabilities and Environment. In treating emergencies, doctors are expected to use these guidelines in a systematic manner to assess the extent of injuries and treat the most immediately life-threatening issues first.

Applying what they learnt during lecture sessions, the participants had to treat "patients" whom displayed a multitude of life-threatening injuries during a test.

Doctors who pass the test are considered to be ATLS-certified, and are expected to maintain their currency at least once every four years in order to keep abreast of emergency medical care developments.

"After attending the course and passing the test, the doctors are expected to be highly skilled in assessing a trauma patient and to be able to identify the most critical conditions. Doing this well ultimately saves lives," said LTC (Dr) Chua Wei Chong, Chief Army Medical Officer and Commander SMTI.

"We are honoured that the SAFMC was asked to conduct the course as part of an international conference, recognising the high level of proficiency which the Corps possesses."

LTC (Dr) Chua added that the SAFMC was the first medical organisation that trained all its doctors in ATLS and is currently also the only organisation in Singapore that trains ATLS instructors.

The benefits of the workshop and the professionalism of the SAFMC were certainly not lost on the participants.

"The ATLS course conducted by the SAF has been excellent. The realism of training here will give me more confidence in my work back home," said Dr Ian Crawford, who is an emergency care physician based in Manchester, UK.

Another participant, Dr Katherine McNamara was similarly impressed with the conduct of the course. "Everything ran very smoothly, and there has been a lot of useful guidance along the way from the instructors," she said. Dr NcNamara is currently a resident medical officer at Fremantle Hospital, Australia.

ICEM 2010 is ongoing from 9 to 12 Jun and expects to see more than 2,000 doctors and medical professionals in attendance. Apart from conducting the ATLS workshop, the SAFMC will also be hosting sessions on military medicine on 12 Jun.

Organised by SEMS, this edition of ICEM also marks the first time that the conference is being held in Asia.

Stay tuned to cyberpioneer for more on SAFMC's involvement in ICEM 2010.