HMC critical care teams take part in symposium

Hamad Medical Corporation’s critical care teams recently took part in a symposium aimed at bringing staff up to date with the latest scientific and clinical advances, the second in a regular series of gatherings.Held at the Intercontinental Doha Hotel, with more than 250 participants from different critical care units and the high dependency units, the event was chaired by Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, deputy chief of staff for Academic Affairs and director of GME Department, chairman of Medicine and chairman of Critical Care Committee.The second symposium was co-ordinated by Dr Ahmed Zarour, head of Trauma and Intensive Care Unit (TICU).A multidisciplinary team from TICU presented and discussed implementation of guidelines, critical care patient family handbook, patient mobilisation and electrolyte replacement therapy.  The next symposium will be held in October 2012. The committee will continue to meet on regular basis and will refer the reports of its meetings to the chief of Medical, Academic and Research Affairs who will approve them and share with the Clinical Executive Committee at a corporate level.By bringing the critical care staff together, the committee will work on standardising the practice, creating common protocols and guidelines, sharing experiences, learning from each other, measuring infection rates and outcomes, unifying the equipment, establishing educational programmes and enhancing the overall critical care provided at HMC. The committee will ensure that an evidence- based safe practice is delivered across all HMC critical care units.The committee is formed of the medical and nursing directors of all Critical Care Units and High Dependency Units in HMC. Members  also come from Medical Staff Office, pharmacy and respiratory therapy. Dr al-Khal said that the HMC administration will provide full support to the various activities of the committee. The first symposium was co-ordinated by Dr Abdulsalam Saif, head of MICU, co-ordinator of HMC-critical care committee. It was presented by a multidisciplinary team from medical and surgical intensive care units, pharmacy and dietetics. It discussed improving safety in critical care and the recently developed nutrition protocol.