War in Ukraine | Training created in Quebec for Ukrainian doctors

(Montreal) A group of Quebec doctors offers training in life-saving medical care for Ukrainians struggling with the Russian invasion.

McGill University reported that the Steinberg Center for Simulation and Interactive Learning has created multimedia content to meet urgent healthcare needs in Ukraine.

A press release indicates that the trauma surgeon, Dr.^r Dan Deckelbaum, director of surgical and procedural skills at the Steinberg Center, recorded a series of video tutorials with colleagues after being contacted by doctors in Ukraine who have to treat thousands of patients with serious injuries.

“This kind of hostile environment falls on the shoulders of a significant number of health care workers,” says Dr.^r Deckelbaum in an interview with The Canadian Press. These videos can play an important role in ensuring that procedures are followed to the best of everyone’s ability. »

The school says the videos were filmed in a mock operating room and translated from English to Ukrainian. These 10 videos and 10 lectures, ranging in length from three to twenty minutes, teach basic survival skills and emergency procedures that can be performed by people without surgical experience. Procedures include chest tube insertion and airway management.

“If you’re a cardiologist or a dermatologist, you’re a very good doctor, but you don’t know how to treat an injury because that’s not your area of ​​expertise,” says Dr.^r Deckelbaum. We created these videos with the Stimulation Center to show how to perform these procedures in emergency medicine to treat trauma. »

The D^r Gerald Fried, director of the Steinberg Center, says the teams were able to deliver the training materials in less than 24 hours.

The D^D Junko Tokuno, a thoracic surgeon who helped produce these videos, has been working for the past six months to develop visual training for McGill medical students. According to her, the experience helped her quickly gather content when the request came.

“In these situations where several patients are in danger, doctors don’t have time to refer to a book,” she points out. The videos show how the procedures should be done exactly, with visual and auditory aid. »

The D^D Tokuno says these videos are easy to stream anywhere in Ukraine, as long as electricity and internet are available.

“There are a significant number of injuries every day,” she said. Resources are limited, the number of doctors with experience of treating severely injured patients is limited. We need doctors who know how to save lives. »