Safety, quality and care

Improvising on services and delivering the best care possible is an ongoing process at Aster MIMS

Emergency Department is a new speciality in India. Aster DM Healthcare recognised this service early and established an emergency medicine unit in 2007. We had started the first mobile ICU service in Kerala in 2005, where the primary focus was on paramedic training on nursing.
Improvising on services and delivering the best care possible is an ongoing process. Therefore, in 2009 we initiated Continued Medical Education in Emergency Medicine and tied up with two world-renowned medical institutes to offer the best training possible to our staff and students.
On our invitation, a team from the George Washington University visited us, conducted an inspection, and approved a two-year fellowship programme in Emergency Medicine at Aster MIMS Calicut and KIMS. The fellowship programme has immensely benefitted students of Aster MIMS. At present, 12 students are part of the programme.
We have also tied up with the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre in the US for an observership programme. Faculty from this institute travels to India every year and teaches students for 10 days. Basically, our goal is to empower nurses and develop an exceptional Emergency Nurses programme.
In 2010, the scope of continued medical education was widened to focus on trauma. In 2013, Aster DM Healthcare organised the biggest conference on emergency medicine: EMCON 2013. The event conducted 10 workshops and was attended by 1,500 delegates from across the world. It also included 102 road shows in Kerala from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod to Wayanad and attracted people to Emergency Medicine.
The scope of Emergency Medicine is beyond the hospital premises. In the last 10 years, more than two lakh people have been trained in basic life support programmes. There is a public face to Emergency Medicine. Community-based Ambulance Services ANGELS (Active Network Group of Emergency Life  Savers) was started in Calicut. This networks ambulance services owned by different people, brings them together, and empowers and teaches them patient care system. This movement has enhanced public co-operation in nine districts in Kerala.
- As told to Suchitra Steven Samuel