Health and Non-Health Professionals in Ghana trained on CPR at UGMC

The Medical Simulation and Training Centre of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC)   in collaboration with Emergency and Critical Care Network (ECCN , Health Solutions International Inc. and Africa Resuscitation Initiative have conducted a training programme on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) at the Medical Centre in Legon, Accra. 

 

The four  (4) day training was on basic and advanced life support for adults, children and babies and conducted for our hundred and thirty (430) health professionals and non-health professionals from selected public health facilities in Ghana.  Some of the participating health institutions were the UGMC, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the University of Ghana Dental Association.

 

CPR and ECC are lifesaving techniques useful in many emergencies, including heart attacks or in situations where a person’s breathing ceases or the heart stops beating. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that everyone, whether untrained bystanders or medical personnel, commence with CPR and ECC as soon as possible before calling for further help from the experts.

The Director of the UGMC Training and Simulation Centre, Prof. Aaron Lawson stated that the training was the first in a series to be conducted periodically at the Medical Centre. He revealed that the traditional teaching and learning methods have undergone extensive transformation through the use of innovative information and communication technology which offer myriad opportunities to enhance the continuing education of health professionals. He added that this had resulted in a positive impact on the education and training of health professionals as well as on the quality of patient care in general and so UGMC was positioning itself to offer these services to undergraduate medical students from both public and private health professional training schools, post-graduate health professional trainees,  health professionals in practice and corporate organizations.

According to Dr. Christian Owoo, Founder of ECCN, the mission of his organization is to collaborate with local institutions like UGMC to provide internationally researched state of the art services in preventive care such as CPR and ECC.  

 

The training was held at the Centre’s ultra-modern Medical Training and Simulation Centre and based on the AHA curriculum whilst certification was by AHA instructors.