From left: Dr. Paul Reavley, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Consultant at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children; Dr. Abdullatif AlKhal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Department of Medical Education at HMC; and Sultana Afdhal, Chief Executive Officer, World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH).
Doha, Qatar: The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), the global health initiative of Doha-based Qatar Foundation (QF), has announced the development of a new Pediatric Trauma Pain Management Manual in Arabic and English to support clinicians in conflict zones. The manual will provide clinicians with medical guidance to assist children who have suffered life-changing injuries. The manual will be officially launched at the WISH 2024 international healthcare summit, taking place on November 13-14 at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
The new manual will address how clinicians can manage children’s pain not only at the point of their blast injury, but through the acute care pathway and in the months and years following injury. Doctors undergoing training in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) from Gaza, along with pain experts in Qatar, will join other clinicians and academics in pediatrics and pain management from Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, the University of Bath, and Kidconfident.org. in producing the manual. Initially targeting clinicians in Gaza, Arabic and English versions are being developed simultaneously.
As part of the manual’s continued development, WISH convened a Pain Management Clinical Focus Group in Doha on April 27 to further guide the content of the manual to better support clinicians in Palestine and conflict zones worldwide. Around 30-40 Qatar-based clinicians with first-hand experience in Palestine and conflict settings attended, including pain experts from Sidra Medicine and HMC, as well as doctors from Gaza and the West Bank who are currently enrolled in the fellowship training in HMC as part of a program organized by Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.
Qatar-based clinicians with first-hand experience in Palestine and conflict settings at Pain Management Clinical Focus Group meeting convened by WISH.
Speaking at the Pain Management Clinical Focus Group meeting in Qatar, project lead Dr. Paul Reavley, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Consultant at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, said: “Pediatric care in conflict zones is often delivered by clinicians who have little experience in treating children. We are looking to give doctors working on the ground in conflict zones both the tools and the confidence to treat children experiencing the horrific and painful consequences of blast injuries, which in turn will allow for better assessment, treatment, and communication with children, from injury to rehabilitation and beyond.”
Dr. Abdullatif AlKhal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Department of Medical Education at HMC in Doha, Qatar, said: “For many years, Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health has brought physicians from Palestine to Doha to help them develop the necessary skills and competencies in different specialties leading to board certification that they can then take home with them and use to treat their patients back in Gaza and the West Bank. Their first-hand knowledge of working on the ground in extremely challenging conditions gives them a valuable perspective on delivering care. Working together with the Paediatric Blast Injury Partnership and WISH, we have the best chance of developing a Pediatric Pain Management Manual that will provide vital support to healthcare professionals working on the ground in conflict zones in Gaza and elsewhere.”
Sultana Afdhal, Chief Executive Officer, WISH, said: “Given the suffering of the growing number of severely injured children in Gaza, we knew that there was a chronic need for a focus on pain relief. Speaking with Paul Reavley made it clear that developing a follow-on manual to the Paediatric Blast Injury Field Manual would be an effective way to provide help.
“With the support of Qatar Foundation and Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health and the brilliant clinicians and researchers from Gaza, Qatar, and the UK, we are determined to play our part in the development of this vital manual and supporting the training of clinicians in Gaza and elsewhere.”
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