Over the past four years, the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) and teams of neonatal specialist doctors and nurses from Chengalpattu Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) and Singapore’s KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) have been involved in a medical mission to share knowledge, skills and resources.
The aim of the SIF Specialist Volunteer (Enhancing Newborn Services) project has been to update and enhance the neonatal knowledge and clinical skills of those who care for at-risk newborns, including critically ill and premature babies.
Serving as specialist volunteers with the SIF, Singapore’s KKH team of neonatologists and neonatal ICU nurses have trained some 120 healthcare professionals in Tamil Nadu, including paediatric doctors and neonatal ICU nurses from CMCH, senior health nurses, village health nurses and staff nurses from 12 primary healthcare centres in the Chengalpattu district and the Transport Nursing Team of Kancheepuram district’s Neonatal Ambulance service. The training focused on neonatal resuscitation skills and transportation practices, and raised awareness of infection control issues.
Following this four-year engagement, the SIF-managed project has helped advance the hospital’s ongoing efforts to raise its standards of clinical care. Reportedly, the hospital has recorded better clinical outcomes, registering a 15 per cent reduction in infection-related infant mortality as a result of improved respiratory management practices and strengthened infection control standards.
Apart from knowledge and skills transfer, the Singapore specialist volunteers also shared best practices from KKH.
EH News Bureau