AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — Faculty at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) are taking their teachings across the world. For years, a group, led by Dr. Vikas Kumar, has traveled to underserved countries to train healthcare workers in critical care — a program funded by the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
“They do become comfortable in {knowing] when to escalate care and when to ask for help,” Dr. Vikas Kumar, an anesthesiologist and intensivist at MCG, explained.
The MCG team has taught in Nigeria and Pakistan. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, they did not want to stop teaching. Kumar turned the course into a virtual course.
This week, dozens of healthcare workers in Ghana tuned in to watch as doctors in Augusta demonstrated how to care for patients with life-threatening injuries or illnesses.
This program is meaningful for Dr. Mary Arthur, an anesthesiologist at MCG, who is from Ghana.
“Ghana doesn’t really have a structured critical care residency or fellowship training,” Arthur explained. “We have internal medicine physicians and other physicians who kind of step in and help with critical care needs. Having this training helps, even with nurses and other physicians.”
Participants watched and monitored vitals as the teaching staff walked them through real-life scenarios. The goal is to make these healthcare workers more comfortable in high-stress situations when a person’s life is on the line.
“This provides them the opportunity to apply the knowledge that they’ve already learned,” Kumar said.
As long as there is a need, MCG’s team will continue teaching. They plan on taking the course to Haiti and Botswana.
“We’re going to keep expanding to other countries all over the world.”
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