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EMS Continues intense training sessions for Medical Personnel

20th May 2016

The country's Emergency Medical Services continue to promote safety as the department is currently holding a spine and neck training workshop at the Antigua and Barbuda Transport Board's Headquarters.

Head of Training, Technical Support and PRO Morvin Feidtkou said that the exercise is a culmination of years of research in the EMS field based on spinal immobilization versus spinal motion restrictions.

"I know the general public always see us putting patients on spine boards and strapping them down securely but not all patients should be on a spine board because you have a certain criteria and if that criteria is not met, more damage can be done than good. So what we are doing here is not only educating the EMT's but also the nurses in the Emergency Room at the Hospital because as you know we work as a team and we want to be on the same page", Fiedtkou said.

Fiedtkou said the main purpose of the workshop is to dispel any notion that the EMS and the ER Nurses are not well trained in such areas.

"We went through some of the research, and the science, we went through some of the practical and this is a process that will continue for the next few weeks because we do not want to give the public the wrong impression that we are not giving the patients the best possible care so we are educating ourselves, the public and those that we associate with about the new guidelines and the criteria for putting a patient on the backboard", Fiedtkou said.

Two of the Emergency Room nurses involved in the training exercise are Dina North and Aisha Lackna, who both said that the training session has been inspiring and eye opening.

North had this to say. "This program helps us to better assess the patients because we do not have enough bed spaces for all the patients who come to the emergency room on spine boards and sometimes we have to be bumping patients to put a person who comes in on a spine board on a bed who sometimes does not require a bed so this training workshop gives us a better view and assessment on the various requirements", North said.

Lackna also expressed similar sentiments, "It basically helps us to understand why they bring a person in on a spine board and why they didn't and it also helps us to understand the conditions that the patients are in when they are brought in and the different scenarios."

Close to twenty technicians and nurses are currently involved in the program.

For More Information Contact:
Debbie Francis
Communication Officer
Tel: (268) 464-8026