TWENTY-FIVE medical employees at New Amsterdam Hospital (NA) in Berbice are now better equipped to deal with emergency admissions following a two-day triage training seminar last weekend.

They were trained at the institution after its administration realised that triaging was a weak point in the emergency room and since it is a critical process where patients are categorised according to their level of urgency when they present themselves for management.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle after the course, Senior Emergency Resident Physician of the  Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr. Zulfikar Bux said he is currently in the process of becoming a specialist and is required to develop emergency rooms at regional hospitals and the New Amsterdam Hospital was his choice to start.
“Our main concept is to recognise very sick patients and take them in for emergency management. We also trained the participants to determine the duration of time that other non-urgent patients can wait to see a doctor at the emergency department,” he explained.
Bux also disclosed that the seminar was arranged by the GPHC in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Berbice Regional Health Authority and the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Their expertise
He mentioned, too, that medical personnel from the George Washington and Vanderbilt Medical Universities in the United States (U.S.) made a special trip to Guyana to impart their expertise to the 25 seminar participants, who were facilitated by the Medical Director of the host Berbice hospital, Dr.Vishalya Sharma.
Bux said that other doctors, who are undergoing training as emergency specialists, would continue to train in triaging at more regional hospitals throughout Guyana.
“We are spreading the wings of emergency medicine since treatment can be administered at the triage level while patients are waiting to see a doctor,” he indicated.
Those who took part in the exercise last weekend were trained, as well, in developing their interpersonal health care skills and to effectively communicate with doctors and co-workers, to expedite patient management.
Sharma said, afterwards, that teamwork would be vital at the triage stage and it is her hope that participants would practice according to their training.
“Since patient care is a priority, our newly trained personnel are expected to effect positive changes in our emergency room,” she stated.
Those who participated in the last weekend process received certificates on the successful completion in the boardroom of the institution.
Apart from Bux, who was the Course Director, Dr. Nitin Aggarwal, Dr. John Paul Rohde, nurses Sally Dye and Morgan Woodard of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee and Dr. Amanda Williams of the George Washington University, all conducted sessions.