Stabilising victim as part of the training.
College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q), in collaboration with Prometheus Medical Mena, hosted Qatar’s inaugural Specialist Pre-Hospital Emergency Resuscitation (SPHERe) course at the CNA-Q campus. There were two key events — an evening speakers’ panel featuring celebrated experts in emergency medicine, followed by a two-day course. The seminar had 130 attendees from emergency medical services throughout the region and the two-day SPHERe course was attended by 29 delegates, all of whom are either senior clinical paramedics or emergency medical physicians with responsibility for paramedic development.
SPHERe is a specialist course developed exclusively by Prometheus Medical for pre-hospital medical professionals, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, and is fully accredited by the UK College of Paramedics. Candidates from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) attended this week to undertake two days of specialist training in pre-hospital major trauma management and emergency resuscitation. They did advanced clinical training, including realistic simulation on the grounds of the college, which involved a multitude of scenarios, including falls from height, major road traffic collisions and sudden cardiac arrest.
“CNA-Q’s School of Health Sciences is completely equipped to support this level of educational initiative and it is our pleasure and privilege to host the first SPHERe training course to be offered in Qatar,” said Irene O’Brien, Dean of Health Sciences.
“This event has brought together EMS professionals from around the region to learn from EMS specialists from around the world, providing an outstanding professional development opportunity for all participants. We are confident that this event is the first of many collaborative ventures between industry, healthcare providers and educators in Qatar which promotes best practice in the field of emergency medicine.
Dr Richard Lyon, Prometheus’ Medical Course Director, said the training would change the face of emergency medical care in Qatar.
“The SPHERe course aims to equip pre-hospital medical professionals with the most advanced clinical knowledge and skills to enable them to provide elite care in the event of a major accident or critical life-threatening emergency, such as sudden cardiac arrest,” said Dr Lyon during the course.
Dr Malcolm Russell, CEO of Prometheus Medical MENA, global expert in bleeding trauma, said that the company aimed to help Qatar and the GCC reduce the number of deaths in the region.
“We are deeply committed to helping reduce morbidity and mortality from trauma and cardiac arrest, not just in Qatar, but across the whole of the region,” said Dr Russell.
David Halliwell, Managing Director for Prometheus MENA, based in Doha, said CNA-Q has been invaluable in helping them understand how paramedic education works in Qatar.
The participants seemed delighted to have an opportunity to learn from global experts, and use new pieces of equipment, said Halliwell.
He added, “The ambulance service in Qatar is very advanced, and therefore we have been able to share the knowledge from this country with others from the GCC.”The Peninsula
