Emergency skills training for nursing students launched

All healthcare graduates to be included in programme in future

LAHORE:

The University of Health Sciences will train 15,000 nursing students every year in life-saving skills.

Speaking at the inauguration of capacity-building workshops for nursing faculty at the UHS Jinnah Campus on Tuesday, Punjab Specialised Healthcare Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said nurses had continued to deliver exemplary services even in difficult circumstances and deserved recognition on par with doctors.

He said around 8,000 MBBS final year students had been trained in six essential emergency skills, including basic and advanced life support, first trauma response, neonatal and obstetric resuscitation, and emergency triage assessment and management.

The minister said 1,000 medical faculty members had been trained as master trainers, while the next phase would focus on training 1,200 nursing teachers who would pass the skills on to students in government and private institutions across Punjab.

UHS Vice Chancellor Professor Ahsan Waheed Rathore said that after completing medical faculty training, the university had now launched the nursing faculty component. Under the programme, teachers from 86 nursing colleges would train more than 15,000 students annually in emergency life-saving skills, ensuring that every graduate could respond effectively in critical situations. He said trained faculty members would be certified instructors and, going forward, no health student in Punjab would be awarded a degree without passing an assessment in the six mandatory emergency skills.

Former health adviser Dr Saeed Elahi described nurses as the backbone of the healthcare system.

UHS Pro VC Professor Nadia Naseem said faculty members from dozens of medical colleges had been trained as master trainers, who had subsequently trained MBBS students in emergency response skills.