Abdus Salam Khan, MD FACP, Aug 2019
We are witnessing the rise in the level of interest and understanding regarding the emergency medicine in Pakistan. What we started about seven years ago in getting a facelift. A blog was started in 2012 and is getting a new place here along with some of the resources to help people understand emergency medicine and emergency care(1,2).
A handful of physicians decided to change the canvas of healthcare in Pakistan(3). They felt the pain of people coming to the emergency departments and fighting for their life with physicians who were least equipped both in equipment and also in competence. They decided to change the situation and make it better for Pakistan. A long battle started which is still going on. It was regarding improving the understanding of people who make decisions and meant to overcome the deficiencies of competencies through training(4).
In due time we had two programs started the training in Emergency Medicine. The impact was not that great as people still were vastly skeptical regarding the impact of two private institutions trying to change the healthcare. The people on ground went through a lot of hard work and needed all sort of efforts to let people understand the issue of Emergency Medicine. One of those efforts was in the area of social media and on the web. We had our presence in the social media around 2012 and at the same time I started writing a blog regarding Emergency Medicine in Pakistan. It was a challenge for me personally. As my training was not in the Emergency Medicine and for opting Emergency Medicine as the career path, I was going through the transformation and the metamorphosis that required plenty of energy and reorientation in my thinking. Looking back I feel plenty of times that I was drained and it was hard to juggle things but I am thankful to Allah that I was surrounded by the best people any one can hope for.
The blog was not the most popular thing on the net, yet it was able to change quite a few minds. I use to come across scores of people who would tell me that either they were inspired through my writings or they got information from it that they needed. My technological limitations were one of the hurdles to make it as meaningful as I wanted. Now I feel I can take a bit of jump and create a bit bigger impact and do a better job for the people. This time there are a few things in my favor. Clearly my understanding about Emergency Medicine as a subject as well as a revolution in Pakistan is a big plus this time. Then my command on the web is a bit better, and now most importantly my kids have grown to help do this task better.
This time we would be making it more comprehensive with more resources, more knowledge and more interaction. There is plenty to be done and creating these kinds of hubs of knowledge and information makes it easy for the people to come on the same page and interact with each other with better understanding. We would be asking help from other people and develop the resources in all aspects of Emergency Medicine and Emergency Care. It will encompass pre-hospital care as well as disaster management. It will have plain text, tables, presentations as well as videos to make people understand the concept. It will have plenty to think about work, exam, disease as well as prevention and will address all segments of the society including the attendants who will be providing the care of the patients at home.
I am hopeful that you all will like it and will utilize it to get informed and improve your understanding regarding Emergency Medicine in Pakistan. Do let me know how is it helping you out and how can we be more effective.
Welcome aboard. You can reach me at askhan65@yahoo.com.
1. Khan AS. Emergency Medicine Series | ER MEDICINE [Internet]. [cited 2019 Aug 14]. Available from: http://emergencymedicineforum.org/2012/07/20/emergency-medicine-series/
2. Khan AS. Value and Need | ER MEDICINE [Internet]. [cited 2019 Aug 14]. Available from: http://emergencymedicineforum.org/2012/08/06/value-and-need/
3. Rehmani R. JPMA – Journal Of Pakistan Medical Association [Internet]. [cited 2019 Aug 14]. Available from: https://jpma.org.pk/article-details/1114
4. Razzak JA, Ahmed A, Saleem AF, Nasrullah M. Perceived need for emergency medicine training in Pakistan: A survey of medical education leadership. Emergency Medicine Australasia [Internet]. 2009 Apr [cited 2019 Jun 16];21(2):143–6. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19422412