Post by NMA on Jan 28, 2006 15:01:10 GMT
AA,
I thought I'd start a thread on relief medicine, one of my more favoured topics
Over the past year, we have seen many examples of relief medicine in action- as medics and aid are diverted to areas inflicted with natural or man made disasters.
Relief Medicine is a speciality in it's own right, drawing on specifics from other specialities like infectious diseases, orthopaedics and public health, to deliver aid and relief to striken populations, be it after a tsunami, and earthquake, a huricane or during and after a war.
When we see the pictures of destruction ont he television, and hear and read the reports from the radio and over the internet, it is natural to want to do something to help those people. Recently, massive charity efforts have seen large sums of money donated by the general populations, although the amounts raised have declined progressively, as people become numbed by constant exposure.
However, many ask how they can help directly, by going out to the disaster areas, and providing skilled assistance. And it's not only medics... other professionals, like engineers for example, are also key to the regions recovery.
But to be useful in those situations, you need to have done your homework. If you have no experiance, and just turn up in a disaster zone, even with the best will in the world, you are most likely to simply become another person to help... and be more of a burden than a benefit to the people you were trying to help. I didn't used to think this was true, but since I started studying the topic more, and did a course in Relief Medicine, I tend to agree with it more.
So I don't want to put people off trying to help others, but simply to say if you really do want to help, make sure that you can be as effective out there as possible. That's where RME come into this.
RME is short for Relief Medicine Education, a voluntary organisation consisting of Muslim Healthcare workers who seek to promote relief work in Muslim Communities. Originally set up many years ago by a bunch of junior doctors, it has since grown and many have benefited from attending their seminars. I have also found that it helped out in my general medical studies, as I could apply some of what I learnt at RME to the situiations on the wards, or in A&E, and also whilst I was out on elective. The converse was also true... it helped me understand why some old consultants would badger on about strange little details, and even made me take a second look at biochemistry... all those things in pre clinical that I didn't think I needed to know!
Below I have posted the RME programme for 2006, and I will try to post a reminder for each session in the Events section, inshallah. My experiance is that these seminars are definately worth attending, so I would encourage everyone, medic or not, to make the time and go. And the practical sessions, when held, are great fun and really good learning experiances
The people running and teaching on this course have personnal experiance of working in disaster zones, and strong links with many Muslim relief agencies, so teaching and reports are both relevent and up to date, and often with guest speakers fresh from relief settings.
Wslm,
NMA
I thought I'd start a thread on relief medicine, one of my more favoured topics
Over the past year, we have seen many examples of relief medicine in action- as medics and aid are diverted to areas inflicted with natural or man made disasters.
Relief Medicine is a speciality in it's own right, drawing on specifics from other specialities like infectious diseases, orthopaedics and public health, to deliver aid and relief to striken populations, be it after a tsunami, and earthquake, a huricane or during and after a war.
When we see the pictures of destruction ont he television, and hear and read the reports from the radio and over the internet, it is natural to want to do something to help those people. Recently, massive charity efforts have seen large sums of money donated by the general populations, although the amounts raised have declined progressively, as people become numbed by constant exposure.
However, many ask how they can help directly, by going out to the disaster areas, and providing skilled assistance. And it's not only medics... other professionals, like engineers for example, are also key to the regions recovery.
But to be useful in those situations, you need to have done your homework. If you have no experiance, and just turn up in a disaster zone, even with the best will in the world, you are most likely to simply become another person to help... and be more of a burden than a benefit to the people you were trying to help. I didn't used to think this was true, but since I started studying the topic more, and did a course in Relief Medicine, I tend to agree with it more.
So I don't want to put people off trying to help others, but simply to say if you really do want to help, make sure that you can be as effective out there as possible. That's where RME come into this.
RME is short for Relief Medicine Education, a voluntary organisation consisting of Muslim Healthcare workers who seek to promote relief work in Muslim Communities. Originally set up many years ago by a bunch of junior doctors, it has since grown and many have benefited from attending their seminars. I have also found that it helped out in my general medical studies, as I could apply some of what I learnt at RME to the situiations on the wards, or in A&E, and also whilst I was out on elective. The converse was also true... it helped me understand why some old consultants would badger on about strange little details, and even made me take a second look at biochemistry... all those things in pre clinical that I didn't think I needed to know!
Below I have posted the RME programme for 2006, and I will try to post a reminder for each session in the Events section, inshallah. My experiance is that these seminars are definately worth attending, so I would encourage everyone, medic or not, to make the time and go. And the practical sessions, when held, are great fun and really good learning experiances
The people running and teaching on this course have personnal experiance of working in disaster zones, and strong links with many Muslim relief agencies, so teaching and reports are both relevent and up to date, and often with guest speakers fresh from relief settings.
Wslm,
NMA
