WHO Basic Emergency Care (BEC) Course
For the past two weeks, we have been running our third BEC course for MTC clinical staff, followed by our second BEC Training of the Trainer (TOT) course; for more details about the BEC course, see the blog post from November 21, 2023. However, this course differs from our previous sessions as it was fully organized and taught by the newly developed MTC Emergency Care Unit (ECU) training team. When I first arrived at MTC, one of our goals was to create a core team that would be able to advance emergency care knowledge and skills at MTC, especially after my current time at MTC was up. Through our trainer development program, which includes learning how to properly perform and demonstrate emergency care skills combined with teaching theory, we have a multidisciplinary training team comprised of Burmese physicians, medics, and nurse aids. This approach helps create ECU leaders within each training level and highlights the importance of teamwork in medicine, especially when providing emergency care.
During the past two weeks, I observed our third BEC course and was available as needed for organizational questions from the facilitators. After completing a BEC training of the trainer course and teaching two BEC courses, our new lead facilitators were well prepared to run the course and it was a great success. The participants were excited and interactive during the course, showed proficiency in all skills taught, and demonstrated a significant increase in their post-course knowledge assessments compared to the pre-course assessments. They also provided excellent course feedback, especially regarding the course facilitators and lectures.
BEC course medication "Jeopardy"
BEC Training of the Trainer (TOT) Course
After the BEC course, I supervised our new lead facilitators in running a BEC TOT course for a group of participants who excelled in the BEC in order to expand our ECU training team further. There is something very satisfying about making yourself obsolete, one of the signs of successful global health programming. By the time I leave MTC in April, we will have trained 44 clinical staff in the principles and management of basic emergency care and 14 clinical staff will have completed our training of the trainer course. We are also beginning to plan future collaborative training courses between our MTC emergency care training team and staff from various ethnic health organizations.
ECU Design
During the past few weeks, we have been meeting to finalize our ECU layout and design. The location of the new ECU building is finalized, and we plan on utilizing a 400-square-meter building to house the ECU. We have reviewed many layout design features, including our resuscitation room, acute care location, isolation room features, decontamination room location, staff/meeting rooms, patient flow, etc. We have also consulted with a group from Singapore that includes emergency medicine physicians and medical engineers. Our next step is to meet with our local architect and engineer teams to finalize the project details.
A Visit From an Old Friend
This week, I was fortunate to have one of my oldest friends and a fellow emergency medicine physician visit me at MTC. Dr. Gilbert Tetteh, an ultrasound fellowship-trained EM physician currently working at Oakland Medical Center in Oakland, CA, was one of my best friends in high school and my biggest nemesis in ping-pong, a rivalry that was reignited during his visit. He joined our BEC course this past week and had a chance to meet all my friends and colleagues from MTC and Mae Sot.
Stay tuned the next blog post will highlight 2 interesting cardiac ultrasound cases...
A few pictures from the past week...
MTC Lecture Halls
Secret Garden Cafe
Dinner at ครัวตระกูลกล้า, one of my favorite restaurants in Mae Sot
