Emergency medicine conference tackles transition to A&E

EMERGENCY health-care professionals came together last Saturday to participate in a two-day conference and workshop held under the theme “From the Office to Emergency Department”.

The workshop, held in the Henry Fraser Lecture Theatre at the UWI Cave Hill Campus, was presented by the Caribbean Emergency Medicine Association (Barbados) in association with the Faculty of Medical Science.

One of the co-ordinators of the event, Dr. Joanne Bradford-King, noted that the workshop is critical, acknowledging the interaction with other health-care professionals in the emergency field and to ensure a safe transition of patients to the emergency facility and that the needs of the community are met.

The presenters explored clinical presentations associated with high-risk diagnoses that are commonly seen outside the hospital and referred to the Emergency Department.

According to Dr. Bradford-King, “Sometimes it is not an easy decision to make, as to who goes and who stays and there are a number of factors that go into this.”

Some of the topics discussed included Fever and Body Pains, Red Flags in Abdominal Pain, Dizziness and ‘All that Wheezes Isn’t Asthma’.

The participants of the workshop had an opportunity to hear from visiting Canadian Professor Michael J. Bullard from the University of Alberta and Consultant Emergency Medicine Specialist from the UWI Jamaica, Dr. Rhonda Hutson.

During the workshop local Consultant Dr. Haresh Thani, Surgeon and Emergency Medicine Specialist, was honoured by CEMA for his outstanding contribution to Emergency Medicine and Disaster and Mass Casualty Management in Barbados and abroad.

Reading his citation was Dr. Reginald King, Emergency Physician, who noted that Dr. Thani has been an Accident & Emergency Consultant since 1997. He is involved in mass casualty management for PAHO and has been involved in the Emergency Management training programme from its inception. Dr. Thani is also trained in mediation and also pushed for professionals to undertake sign language classes to assist those who are hearing impaired who may present in the Emergency Department.

Dr. King noted that Dr. Thani was integral in the change from the “Casualty” where patients were seen and rushed upstairs, to the present critical care stabilisation-based emergency department. “He paved the way forward with no thought for himself and constantly strived for improvements in infrastructure,” he said.

With the sweeping changes in Information Technology, Dr. King noted that Dr. Thani recognised that this would have an impact in patient care. He therefore spearheaded computerisation in A&E and changed the casualty card to the current patient record. “This foresight has facilitated many research projects and allows for analysis for patient flow and treatment. Many current improvements in the A&E are based on these analyses from the rostering of staff to the better management of trauma and non-trauma conditions,” he said.

“His leadership, professionalism, caring and avant-garde attitude have been the backbone of one of the best emergency care delivery departments in the Caribbean,” Dr. King said. (JH)