01 Jul 2010
Cambodia has been called the road traffic accident capital of the region, a description that may not be an exaggeration considering the statistics.
Every day, four people die and 75 are wounded on Cambodian roads, and the number of road fatalities has more than tripled between 2001 and 2007 – a trend which includes a significant number of avoidable deaths but for Cambodia’s strapped emergency medical services.
To help address the pressing need for trauma care and kick-start a sustainable training programme in severe injury management, a team of trauma experts from Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) Trauma Service Unit, led by Associate Professor Ong Hock Soo, Director, ATLS Training Centre, SingHealth, and Senior Consultant, Department of General Surgery, SGH, headed to the Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh in March to conduct their first overseas training for 20 doctors and 20 nurses. To the Cambodians, the course was of national importance – a point highlighted by the country’s health authorities at the welcome address for the team.
The trauma skills and knowledge that the SGH team imparted to the course participants will in turn be taught to other Cambodian medical personnel.
Indeed, Calmette Hospital, one of the most advanced public hospitals in the country, is aiming to be a teaching hospital for the nation. The syllabus taught to the Cambodians was based on the internationally accredited Advanced Trauma Life Support course that the Trauma Services Unit teaches doctors in Singapore three times a year. However, emphasis was placed on injuries commonly suffered by victims of road traffic accidents. In addition to lectures, the participants also
underwent intensive practical skills training as acute trauma caregivers often need to act quickly, using the right skills and procedures to preserve life and limb.
The team, comprising four trauma surgeons, two trauma nurses and an executive, also had to think about the training equipment that they would need in Cambodia. A manikin that simulates trauma symptoms was the star of the training. Smaller manikins, spine boards, and splints were other training aids that went into 10 boxes weighing 150kg that accompanied the team.
Language was an issue, and trainers had to be paired with English-proficient Cambodians.
Partly because of the language issue, training was planned over three days. Cambodians normally return home for lunch, meaning at least a two hour break. To avoid this loss of valuable training time, a request was made to have lunch catered.
The participants had a high level of knowledge and skills, and were hungry to learn. As the doctors and nurses were from rural hospitals, their questions were related to experiences in the countryside – a facet of trauma care that the trainers had not faced before. For them, teaching in Cambodia became a two-way learning process.
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