100 per cent of hospital's obstetrics staff complete international industry standard K2MS Fetal Monitoring Training Program

Al Ain, UAE, 15 September 2013: Underscoring the superiority of its obstetrics practice and the quality of its Perinatal and Neo-natal care, Tawam Hospital, in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine and part of the SEHA healthcare system, is the first organization in the Middle East to achieve 100 per cent completion for obstetrical staff of K2 training within the first 6 months of this internationally recognised fetal monitoring program.

The K2 Fetal Monitoring Training Program is a web-based e-Learning program which is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, providing high quality simulation scenarios to improve core obstetrics knowledge and decision-making skills. It is the industry standard for obstetrics teaching with over 95 per cent of UK hospitals, with an additional educational presence in Europe, United States, Australia and New Zealand. The K2MS Fetal Monitoring Training Program is completed by over 100,000 registered doctors, midwives, nurses and support staff around the world every year.

Tawam's multi-disciplinary team of obstetricians, residents, midwives, nurses, neonatologists and respiratory therapists is now ranked among the world-class clinical leaders who have demonstrated their commitment to increasing patient safety through their active participation in the K2 program.

Upon receiving confirmation of the 100 percent staff compliance , Wayne Remig, Chief Nursing Officer at Tawam Hospital, said: "I appreciate the hard work that the team has put in to achieve 100% compliance across all disciplines , I also acknowledge the tremendous effort of Dr Howaida Khair, Division Chief of Obstetrics and K2 Project Lead for Obstetricians at Tawam, who secured the training program for us, as well as the significant contribution made by Beverley Underwood, Senior Charge Nurse, Labour & Delivery.  It is important that our nurses, midwives, doctors and support staff receive the same standardized, international training that this program offers so that we can maintain our high quality of obstetrics care."

Remig continued, "The level of participation is illustrative of the commitment of our multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team and a direct reflection of how enthusiastically the training has been received. Feedback from T2, the exclusive representation for K2 in the GCC Region has been excellent and we are the first hospital in the region to have achieved 100% compliance in the first 6 months. It has had a positive impact on our provision of obstetrics care and we look forward to the next phase. We hope to replicate our successful performance in that period as well."

Program compliance and testing was assessed by T2 Experts Health Information Management LLC. T2 are the regions local support office and a Health Facility licensed by HAAD for provision of Education and Continuous Medical Education (CME). As a result of the team's outstanding performance, Tawam staff has already been awarded a collective team sum of 1,310 HAAD Category 1 CME hours.

Trish Kennedy and Tracey Rawnsley, Directors of T2 Experts Health Information Management LLC and sole exclusive agents of K2MS UK for the UAE and MENA region, were delighted to have supervised the K2 Fetal Monitoring Training Program at Tawam Hospital. They said: "The K2 Training Program is essential in furthering a hospital's commitment to increased patient safety and reduced morbidity and mortality. It is part of a sound risk management strategy and we congratulate the obstetrics team at Tawam on achieving 100% compliance within the initial 6 months of K2 Launch."

Tawam Hospital is part of the SEHA Health System and are owned and operated by SEHA, which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. 

About Tawam Hospital
Tawam Hospital, in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a premier 455-bed tertiary care facility located in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi; one of the largest hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. With over 22,000 admissions in 2012 and an average 73 per cent occupancy rate, Tawam offers services in specialties including oncology, neonatal care, emergency medicine, intensive care, surgery, urology, family medicine, fertility services, neurosurgery, nephrology, paediatrics, pain management, internal medicine and obstetrics & gynaecology.

Tawam serves as a regional referral center for specialized medical care and is a national referral center for oncology services. Tawam Hospital received program accreditation in 2012 from the American College of Graduate Medical Education - International, and is a recognized intern, resident, and fellowship training site for the Arab Medical Board. Tawam Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission International Accreditation, last renewed in 2012, and its laboratory services are accredited by the College of American Pathology.

With an average of 330 daily inpatients, Tawam Hospital is the preferred destination for quality medical care in the UAE. In 2012, the ER unit received over 116,000 patients, and hospital clinic visits exceeded 489,000. Tawam's team of renowned surgeons performed over 7,700 surgeries during the year, while the dental clinic served over 84,000 patients. During the year, Tawam adopted a single room model in its medical and surgical wards, upgraded the paediatric extended care unit to 10 beds, expanded and relocated its In-vitro Fertilization Unit, remodelled a surgical unit, expanded our Endoscopy Unit, added 19 private rooms to our oncology program, and provided additional special needs parking spaces to serve our clients better. Innovations in clinical care were adopted to treat patients using an evidence-based approach during life-threatening situations to include formation of the ICU Outreach Team and implementation of a Paediatric Early Warning Score process and Rapid Response Team.

More than 4,100 babies were born at Tawam Hospital in 2012. In the same year, the hospital performed over 18,300 CT/MRI procedures, 110,000 radiology exams, 120,000 physiotherapy/ occupational therapy procedures and more than 3,400,000 laboratory tests. The average length of stay at Tawam Hospital in 2012 was 5.45 days.

Tawam Hospital actively recruits and engages a national workforce. On average, the Emiratization rate at Tawam is 16 percent. Tawam Hospital is part of the SEHA Health System, owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

About Johns Hopkins Medicine International
Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) facilitates the global development of the Johns Hopkins Medicine mission: to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care.

As the international access point to thousands of Johns Hopkins experts in medicine, nursing, public health and health care administration, JHI coordinates treatment for out-of-town patients who travel to Baltimore and for local patients with limited English proficiency. It also provides services in hospital management, health care consulting and clinical education through strategic alliances and affiliations in the Middle East, Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia.

About the SEHA Health System and the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA)
SEHA is health in Arabic. The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC- whose marketing identity is SEHA - is an independent, public joint stock company created to develop the curative activities of the public healthcare system in Abu Dhabi. The company owns and operates all the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi which together make up the SEHA Health System. SEHA is committed to continuous improvement of customer care to recognized international standards and providing our customers and communities served world-class healthcare. SEHA has partnered with internationally recognized hospital managers to achieve these goals. These include Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Fresenius Medical Care. SEHA owns and operates 12 hospitals with 2,644 beds, more than 60 ambulatory care, family care and urgent care centers and 2 blood banks. SEHA is one of the largest integrated healthcare providers in the Middle East with more than 17,000 doctors, nurses, ancillary care and administrative personnel in its employ. Visit our website at www.seha.ae

For media enquiries, please contact:
Sumaya Al Harrasi
Marketing & Business Communications Manager
Tawam Hospital
Tel.: +971 3 7074646
Mobile: +971 553051305
Fax: +971 3 7074818
Email: sharrasi@tawamhospital.ae

Amal Hamad Al Darmaki
Public Relations Officer
Tawam Hospital
Tel.: +971 3 7074646
Fax: +971 3 7074818
Mobile: +971 058329733
Email: Amaldarmaki@tawamhospital.ae

© Press Release 2013