MUMBAI: Dr Dinesh Vyas, Associate Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of Surgery Research atTexas Tech University supported by ArogyaaVyas Healthcare Trust and MV Surgical, USA, led a global health education training program (trainer and trainee education) in trauma care for India.
The program that was launched this January included 200 trainers and 900 trainees. The long-term goal is to train 15 million first responders in five states in the next five years.
Established in seven centers in India, trauma care training has been a huge ongoing success. According to the collaborating partners, it is estimated that trainees have executed the improvised life saving skills more than twice every month. In addition, trainees from this program have been instrumental in saving more than 20 lives during a 2015 stampede in Jodhpur, India. The application of skills by trainees during a recruitment event proved the utility and urgency of scaling the program globally.
Two main collaborators, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jodhpur and the Rajasthan Police Academy have enabled Dr Vyas to train, on an average, at least one police official for every police station in the state. AIIMS under the leadership of Dean Dr Misra has been instrumental in shaping Jodhpur, an upcoming exemplary town in holistic, trauma care.
In Jodhpur, more than three police professionals in each police station in addition to a large number of ambulance drivers, fire brigade personnel, taxi drivers and emergency room staff have been trained in the last two years. The trainings and further collaboration with administration officials have stimulated the organization of multiple similar training programs led by local anesthesia and surgery departments. As a result, there has been a reduction in accidents and potentially fatal deaths according to the local driver’s association and community leaders.
Dr Vyas believes in two stage solution to the new age epidemic: immediate and permanent. His team comprising academicians from surgery, public administration, highway engineering, social engineering, health economics and mass communication from various countries, mostly USA, design the blue print for both programs.
For example, a dreaded segment of Barmer-Jodhpur highway has rarely witnessed a major poly-trauma, in the last two years, after implementation of immediate action plan. This segment was once notorious for one accident with more than five fatalities, almost every week, before the training program commenced. Other significant contributors in this Jodhpur success story include Prof. Kant, dean of Medical College, and Drs Pal and Rastogi, faculty members of AIIMS.
During a recently concluded visit in late December through early January, a team of eight multi-disciplinary professionals from the US conducted an education and skill development program that collaborated with AIIMS-Delhi; SVP National Police Academy in Hyderabad; PIMS in Telangana; SMS Medical College in Rajasthan; and established training centers in AIIMS-Jodhpur and Rajasthan Police Academy.
Prof. Amol Pawangadkar, College of Mass Communication, Michigan State University was invited to contribute. Prof. Siddharth Chandra, Director, Asian Studies, MSU also worked with him closely on research health economic impact and business opportunities generated from the program. Prof. Mukherjee, Biomedical Engineering is collaborating on cost efficient and more logistics mode of simulation design.
The mock drill at Telangana was a new concept in trauma education and was introduced for the first time in layman-first responders by any medical professional. Dr. Vyas firmly believes in bringing the best quality education with contextual issues and improvisation as key to the program success. The voluntary program saw 95 percent compliance among participants for two days. The organizer Dr. Ailinani believes the huge attendance at the program indicates high interest among first responders to learn skills and save trauma victims.
The program at AIIMS-Delhi was exclusively designed for newly inducted trainee surgeons. Dr. Vyas stimulated the trainees to lead the world in surgical issues challenging the nation and the world. The joint session was moderated by Prof. Srivastava, the head of surgery at AIIMS-Delhi and Dr. Anil Tiberiwal, a general surgeon from Dallas, Texas, USA.
Similarly, Ms. Bahuguna, Director at SVP National Police Academy invited Dr. Vyas and his team to sensitize the newly induced 187 Indian Police Services (IPS) officers and an additional 20 senior probationary officers from Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. The IPS officers were introduced to online and high-fidelity education methods in trauma to systemically and strategically serve trauma victims and the general public.
The probationary officers were given a bigger vision of trauma care as Dr. Vyas stressed the top-down approach will bring inclusivity and better implementation with comprehensive approach in trauma care. His program is already designed for the bottom of the pyramid.
Dr. Vyas also had a series of meetings with Rajender Rathore, health minister of Rajasthan. A plan was devised to execute the program for 3 LAC first responders in the next five years with the help of various medical schools in Rajasthan.
Similarly, Dr. Ravi Vemuru, advisor to Chandra Babu Naidu, CM Andhra Pradesh, assured Dr. Vyas to adopt Amravati, the state capital, as a model district in AP.
The program at Karimnagar was one of newer and most robust training programs during this visit. Dr. Vyas and his team of 12 US and India education experts and physicians, along with 40 trainers, trained more than 500 trainees including 200 nursing students and police officials.
A team of Manipal Hospital led by the chairman of the system, Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, felt the need for a similar program and will potentially introduce the program in Karnataka in 2016.
Finally, SMS Jaipur also introduced the program for trainers for faculty and residents with the help of Dr. Jenaw, the head of surgery. The program trained more than 50 trainers who assisted in further training 500 police personnel at the Rajasthan Police Academy. This program was organized by DG police, B. L.Soni with the assistance of Prakash and Prof. Manglani.
Frank Fernandes
India Post News Service
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