This month Shifa is arranging a masterclass in Emergency Medicine. Being part of Shifa team, I am one of the organizers of this masterclass. The idea of masterclass evolved few months ago when concerned physicians of Shifa got together and decided to hold such meetings for the general practitioners and young Physicians, and to brush up their knowledge and educate them regarding new guidelines, protocols and new developments in the world. This also opens up an avenue of communication among physicians of different backgrounds.
First such masterclass had the topic of Cardiology and this one which is second of this kind is on emergency medicine. Emergency medicine is the backbone of acute healthcare delivery system. When patients come to us with problems needed to be sorted out immediately, a competent emergency physician is required to address those issues.
For the past 4 years we are educating physicians, nurses, paramedics as well as common individuals on different forums to elevate the overall caliber of the community and the overall situation of emergency medical care in Pakistan. As a nation it is a must to have a robust system of emergency care. As emergency care encompasses methods to deal with all sorts of emergency situations at local, regional and national levels, as well as disasters, it is imperative that we collectively strengthen this discipline and elevate our level of understanding about it. We know that the world is moving fast in this direction and we need to catch up and catch up fast.
As with anything in life, vision and education are the key to establish this field. It can start from the top, or the Government level, then coming down to CPSP(College of Physicians and surgeons Pakistan) and other institutions and can be a collective task or individual effort.
Our meeting with the CPSP and other entities has given us the confidence that there are willing people who wants emergency care to be flourished in Pakistan and they are working to propagate their vision of better emergency care. Being part of the SEPP(Society of emergency Physicians Pakistan) I also have seen clarity in the vision of SEPP and they feel the need to come to the forefront and pave the way to better emergency care delivery. SEPP has the will but lacks the resources and initiative holds them back at this point in time.
Among the institutions both public and private and the medical colleges, emergency medicine is not making to the top of their priority list. Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi and Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad have felt the need and work in this field. The reason is very obvious. These are the two places that have the dedicated and fulltime physicians running their Emergency Departments. This is the link that was missing in past, and hence the gap is slowly but steadily filling up. This results in bringing the field to the front and educating others regarding the value of this field.
This masterclass in emergency medicine is one such effort. It will be regarded as a milestone as it is happening right after Shifa has started the training of emergency medicine for the FCPS part II, with 4 trainees. As education holds the key to all the things, we believe that we are opening another door into the field of emergency medicine. This masterclass is on Feb 17th 2013 and is being held in SIH.
I can be reached at ERDOC@shifa.com.pk