Approaches to Training for Humanitarian Deployment

14th April 2021 

Overview

No matter how good our clinical skills, or our knowledge and experience of managing major incidents in our home setting, the unfamiliarity, potential insecurity, and additional stresses placed upon us by exposure to complex emergencies in other countries will stretch the capabilities of the best of us. To stop these stretching to breaking point we need to be fortified by appropriate training.

During this webinar we will explore approaches to training for humanitarian deployment and learn how we can broaden our exposure to emergency healthcare and systems around the world in order to better prepare ourselves for international deployment. The first part of this webinar will give a background overview of why and how the Introduction to Humanitarian Healthcare online course was created along with how it will support the training pathway for humanitarian deployment.

 

Panellists

Chair: Professor Tony Redmond OBE

Founder of UK-Med, Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine, Keele University and Professor of International Emergency Medicine, University of Manchester

Bio: Tony is a registered specialist in emergency medicine with a special interest in the management of severe injury. He has been involved in international emergency humanitarian assistance for almost twenty five years, organising and leading medical support to natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes in Armenia, Iran, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Haiti, Volcanic eruption and Cholera outbreak in Cape Verde) major incidents (e.g. Lockerbie Air Disaster, UN Air Crash Kosovo), conflicts(e.g. Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone) and complex emergencies (e.g. established tented hospital on Iran/Iraq border for Kurdish refugees) throughout the world.

UK-Med developed out of the South Manchester Accident Rescue Team (SMART). SMART started life as a local medical team, acting in support of the rescue and ambulance services in Manchester. In 1988 Tony led a team of eight Manchester clinicians, including Brendan Ryan and Donald Mackechnie, when a huge earthquake ripped through Armenia. Tony continued to deploy teams throughout the 1990’s and 2000s, and registered UK-Med as a charity in 1995. A step change occurred when Ebola struck West Africa in 2014. UK-Med recruited and trained the one hundred and fifty UK clinicians who worked alongside local medical teams, other NGOs and DfID to bring the outbreak under control. Tony became Chair of Trustees in January 2018, handing over to David Wightwick who was appointed as UK-Med CEO.

Speaker 1: Anisa Jafar

Bio: Anisa Jafar is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer & ST5 in Emergency Medicine at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (University of Manchester). She holds a PhD in disaster healthcare documentation and has been involved in developing the Global Emergency Care Collaborative (GECCo) for the past 18 months.  She has previously completed a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and a Masters in Public Health. Her research involvement spans quantitative and qualitative methods and she has a specific interest in peer connectivity and collaboration with a view to raising the standard of engagement in global emergency care.

Speaker 2: Dr Najeeb Rahman

Consultant in Emergency Medicine

Bio: Dr Najeeb Rahman studied, trained and worked in the UK, obtaining his primary medical degree from the University of Leeds. 

He holds a Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance, a Masters in Public Health, and has a special interest in global emergency medicine and humanitarian assistance.  

Dr Najeeb currently works as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine in Leeds, and is additionally a Trustee of Doctors Worldwide, a UK-based international medical charity. He is additionally a member of the Royal College’s Global Emergency Medicine Committee as well as the Emergency Medicine and Public Health Special Interest Group. 

Speaker 3: Andy Kent

Orthopaedic Surgical Consultant, NHS Highland, Surgical Lead, UK Med, Medical Advisor, Halo Trust

Bio: Andy was born in Malaysia and brought up and schooled in Fife, Scotland. He attended Edinburgh University Medical School and whilst there became a commissioned army officer in the Royal Army Medical Corp, he graduated in 1987. Andy trained in the services to become a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and was deployed throughout the globe including active duty in several austere and hostile environments. He completed a fellowship year in Baltimore, USA, specialising in trauma management. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in NHS Highland in 2002 and continues to deliver both elective and trauma surgical services. Andy has always been engaged in training and humanitarian work and he continues to teach on Advanced Orthopaedic, ATLS, and primary trauma courses. Andy is a medical advisor for the HALO trust and previously deployed to Mosul for 2 months to support Iraqi colleagues manage battlefield civilian injuries. Andy was appointed as Surgical Lead for UK-Med in February 2020 and is the recipient of the RCSEd 2020 Tuanku Muhriz Fellowship.

Speaker 4: Michelle Hanegaard

UK-Med Head of Learning & Capacity Building

Title of Presentation: Approach to the Training of EMTs

Bio: Michelle joined UK-Med in March 2021 and strategically oversees their training portfolio, capacity building activities and MEAL. This includes designing, developing and delivering training to ensure that healthcare professionals can respond effectively to humanitarian emergencies. She brings a wealth of experience in leading and implementing learning programmes and has a background in international development. Since joining the team, Michelle has worked hard to expand and develop training for UK-Med members, particularly focusing on blending learning approach to enable training to continue during lock-down and social distancing restrictions. She has developed and ran several well received Just-In-Time seminars and after months of hard work, recently launched their online training induction program for new members.

Speaker 5: Luca Ragazzoni

Scientific Coordinatior Centre for Research and Training in Disaster Medicine(CRIMEDIM)

Title of Presentation: Approach to the Training of EMTs

Bio: Assistant Professor in Disaster Medicine, Scientific Coordinator of CRIMEDIM – Centre for Research and Training in Disaster Medicine, Humanitarian Aid and Global Health of the University of Eastern Piedmont (Novara, Italy), WHO Collaborating Centre since 2016. Medical doctor specialized in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care with a PhD in Disaster Medicine. Luca has been deployed to several disasters-stricken areas as head of mission or training advisor for UN, Governmental, and Non-Governmental Organizations. He is the Deputy Course Director of the European Master Disaster Medicine (EMDM) and Principal Investigator of the European founded project TEAMS – Training for Emergency Medical Teams.

Recording


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