MASHAV Courses in Israel 2003- Medicine and Public Health

The program offers doctors from different countries with a variety of medical professions practical training for a period of eleven weeks. The training is conducted daily in hospital departments affiliated with Sackler Faculty of Medicine of the Tel Aviv University. Each physician trains in a specific chosen field within his/her specialization. The physicians are awarded a graduation certificate upon completion of the training.

Only candidates with at least four years of clinical experience will be considered for the program. A full command of written and spoken English is essential.

The course is aimed at enhancing nurses' ability to provide optimal nursing care in emergency and trauma situations. Participants share the Israeli experience in medical and nursing approaches to patients, of different age groups, experiencing emergency and trauma.

The following subjects are included: triage; nursing intervention and treatment of patient and family in emergency and trauma situations; post traumatic stress; health policy in emergency medicine in Israel; life saving skills; pre-emergency room treatment; emergency care in children, adults, pregnant women and elderly; multi-trauma injuries.

Candidates are required to be registered nurses (RN) with a minimum two years experience in emergency nursing in the hospital (including relevant units such as emergency room, intensive care) or in the community including ambulatory care in rural areas. Applicants must be in good health and able to speak, read and write English. Preferred ages 25-45.

Imparting leadership and managerial tools in nursing. Various approaches and theories will be studied, with an emphasis on the particular issues facing nursing administrators today. The course will improve professional competence in: identifying theories and approaches in nursing management, including teamwork, implementing appropriate models of organization, implementing the decision-making process to achieve solutions, and analyzing an organization according to components such as structure, function, communication and quality control systems.

Candidates should hold administrative positions with responsibility for staff (i.e., head of nursing services, department head) with a minimum of 3 years of experience in the current position or in a position of comparable task and responsibility. Candidates (male and female) must be under the age of 50 and understand, speak, read and write English.

The overall objective of the course leading to the degree of Master of Public Health of the Hebrew University - Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine is to provide basic knowledge of the theory and practice of public health and community medicine for health workers either currently engaged in this field or wishing to enter it in their future work.

Applicants must have an academic degree from a recognized university in medicine, dentistry, nursing, an allied health field, or in one of the basic biological or social sciences relevant to health.

Applicants who have only a bachelor's degree may be considered only if the have obtained an overall grade of at least 75 percent for this degree.

Students are advised to have background training in microbiology, statistics and computing.

Practical experience in a field of public health will be taken into account as well as academic achievement. Applicants must speak and write English fluently.

Rambam Medical Center is the only trauma center in the north of Israel, serving as a referral hospital for seven general hospitals in northern Israel, with a total population of 1.5 million people. Of the 38,000 trauma patients seen in the Department of Emergency Medicine, 3,300 require hospitalization, which makes RMC the busiest trauma center in Israel. Twenty percent of these patients are referrals from other hospitals, 19% arrive by helicopter and 38% require immediate surgery. Over 700 severe trauma patients are treated in the Trauma Unit yearly.

• Comprehending the continuity of treatment of trauma patients in a trauma system
• Studying the structures involved in the various phases of treatment
• Developing a model of a trauma system appropriate for the student's country of origin

Participants will explore:

• Structure of a national trauma system;
• Structure of a local trauma system;
• Injury prevention and control: importance and protocols;
• Pre-hospital system: treatment, triage, transport, communication, quality assurance;
• Treatment in the trauma center:
      a. Acute phase: admitting area, operating room
      b. Sub-acute phase: intensive care units: general, neurosurgery, pediatrics
      c. Long-term phase: surgical departments: general, maxillofacial, orthopedic, neurosurgery, plastic , etc.
• Rehabilitation;
• Steps in developing a specific national trauma system;
• Inter-connections in trauma system, pre-hospital-hospital, intra-hospital, inter-hospital, government;
• Mass casualty situations;
• Guidelines and protocol: initial assessment and treatment of a single patient;
• Quality assurance;
• Research;
• The place of the Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces in the trauma system in Israel.

At the end of the course, students will present a model for the establishment of a trauma system in his/her country. The project will be presented to a panel of experts. Participants will complete the course with a working plan constructed of clear ideas for the implementation of a trauma system and a method for beginning the building of a trauma system in their own countries.

The course is intended for physicians, nurses and emergency paramedics. A full command of written and spoken English is essential.