Hamad International Training Centre (HITC), run by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), recently concluded a training course in ultrasound techniques for non-radiology doctors.
The course was organised in conjunction with the College of Emergency Medicine in the United Kingdom (UK CEM).
The HITC and UK CEM ultrasound course is one of the few ongoing ultrasound courses of its type anywhere in the world. It is the only “bedside ultrasound” course taught in the region with clinical governance and patient safety as the central theme, with essential emphasis on training standards and collaboration between emergency medicine and radiology.
Dr Khalid Abdulnoor Saifeldeen, HITC director, said: “HITC offers numerous courses aimed at continuously improving the efficiency and competence of HMC’s healthcare professionals, in line with the organisation’s values and objectives of providing safe and high-quality healthcare services in a patient-centred environment. Today’s ceremony is a celebration of the achievement of our physicians’ many months of preparation and effort.”
Professor Peter Cameron, chief of Emergency Medicine at HMC, said: “This course is an essential requirement in ensuring that we train our emergency physicians to maintain high-quality skills and clinically governed practices. This course also brings four different entities together, including Hamad International Training Centre, Emergency Medicine, UK College of Emergency Medicine and Radiology Department. This maximises the resources available to our doctors so we can provide our patients with the safest and most effective care.”
Dr Lisa Munro Davies, lead for ultrasound training from UK CEM, said: “Our key objective with this course was to train people, not just in the technical skill, but to make sure that it is practised in a governance structure. Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to have successfully completed level two training and that is a credit to the people involved who have been motivated to do this.”
Dr Lubna Andraous, a senior specialist in the Emergency Department who completed the level two training of the ultrasound course, said: “The course was great and the instructors were very helpful. The skills that we learnt through this course will definitely help us improve our services for the patients, especially for critically ill patients who are unstable.”
Dr Shatha Alhili, a senior consultant radiologist for HMC, said: “The department is very excited to be involved in such a specialised training initiative and we are particularly supportive of it for its emphasis on clinical governance and standards.”