Dr. Mansour Al Jundi, Executive Director of Medical Services, Western Region launched the Cardiovascular Care International Instructor Update Conference hosted by the Deanship of Higher Education – KSAU-HS – Jeddah represented by the Life Support Training Center in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA). Dr. Khaled Rashed, Life Support Training Center supervisor and head of the organizing committee pointed out that the aim of the conference is to update instructors, coordinators and training center faculty on the latest AHA guidelines on BLS, ACLS and Pals courses. An elite group of certified trainers from the American Heart Association participated in this conference such as:
Dr. Abrar Ashraf Ali, Surgery Consultant, Pakistan.
Zehra’ Al-Hilali, AHA MENA Territory Director.
Dr. Osama Kentab, Pediatrics ER Consultant – KAMC-R
Moreover, Dr. Khaled stated that all resuscitation specialized associations worldwide conduct several studies and annual meetings to follow up on research and developments in regards to this vital field through evidence-based medicine and publishing all recent studies in scientific international conferences. In addition, AHA courses are designed to reduce disability and mortality rates caused by heart failure, arteries and veins diseases in addition to strokes worldwide. American Heart Association annually trains more than 17 million people.
Additionally, Dr. Mansour Al Qurashi, Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education and Academic Affairs, KSAU-HS, Jeddah stated that the Life Support Training Center at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences - Jeddah is an AHA accredited training center that provides basic and advanced skills knowledge courses according to global standards to workers from all other health sectors. Dr. Al Qurashi also pointed out that the center is a Silver Award winner from the Saudi Heart Association for two consecutive years as a recognition of the outstanding levels at which the courses are conducted in addition to adhering to international standards as well as participating in community awareness.
Furthermore, the Life Support Training Center offers simplified courses that target community members to raise awareness about the importance of healthy lifestyle changes, nutrition, physical exercise and how to provide First Aid in cases of emergency and training in CPR skills.
On another note, the Training Center at the Ministry of National Guard started in 1998 and received an accreditation from the American Heart Association in 2011. The number of courses and trainees have been steadily increasing with each year. 2015 Statistics shows that up to 283 different courses have been provided, where the number of trainees reached up to 4048 trainees, 63% were MNG-HA staff members and 37% were from other healthcare institutions. In addition, the training center has offered several courses in prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Cardiac Center in Arar, the Military Hospital in Khamis Musheet, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, in addition to College of Nursing and medical students of King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences - Jeddah.
It’s worth to mention that the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties has accredited this conference with 7 CME Hours.