Background

Sepsis and trauma are two of the fastest growing causes of morbidity and mortality in populations with developing healthcare systems. Recognising the deficit in Emergency Care training in Africa, IAEM member Dr Jean O'Sullivan, an Irish Consultant in Emergency Medicine now working at Tallaght Hospital, founded Global Emergency Care Skills in 2008. GECS is a non-profit voluntary organisation with the core objective of reducing morbidity and mortality by providing emergency care training to doctors and nurses. The training is undertaken through the provision of a skills based course in trauma care, resuscitation skills and major incident management. The teaching faculty is composed primarily of Irish doctors working in Emergency Medicine.

Course Curriculum

The course curriculum has been developed by an expert body of Irish Emergency Medicine doctors and is based on best international evidence. It is tailored to local epidemiological patterns of injury and illness and to available local healthcare resources. The course covers the emergency care of both adults and children. The teaching equipment used in each course is donated locally and the final day of the course is dedicated to training the participants to teach these skills to colleagues in their local healthcare setting.

On line learning and international partnerships

GECS has previously run two training programmes for healthcare professionals in Kenya and recently partnered with both the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa to deliver training to doctors at Lusaka University Teaching Hospital in Zambia.

An on-line learning programme has also been established in collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland as a resource for course participants. The e-learning module consists of lecture series and interactive trauma case scenarios so that course participants can keep their skills updated.

Hospital Equipment

Tallaght and St Luke's Hospitals have kindly donated 80 life saving cardiac defibrillators to GECS. This initiative supplied over 20 hospitals in Africa with defibrillators for the first time. GECS faculty have ensured that staff in the receiving hospitals were trained in safe defibrillation and resuscitation care.

Further Information

Further information about GECS is available by accessing the Organisations dedicated website www.GECS.ie

How to get involved

GECS is funded through voluntary contributions and fundraising events throughout the year. For more information on upcoming events seewww.GECS.ie. If you are a medical practitioner and wish to inquire about joining our teaching faculty contact  Jean.OSullivan@amnch.ie

Gallery of previous activities

• Teaching in Malawi 2010
• Teaching in Lusaka, Zambia 2010
• Teaching in Nairobi, Kenya 2009
• Phoenix Park 10km fun run, October 2010
• Dublin to Galway Cycle, September 2010
• Teaching in Tanzania September 2011