Abu Dhabi, UAE: The National Readiness program-Jahezia announced the successful pilot phase of its National Program for Women’s and Children’s Emergency Preparedness. The program aims to develop the skills and competencies of frontline healthcare workers in the UAE’s hospitals and enhance the readiness of medical teams to respond quickly and effectively to emergency and critical cases related to pregnancy, childbirth, newborns, and children.
The program is part of national efforts to strengthen the healthcare sector’s preparedness, invest in developing medical, nursing, and paramedic staff, and standardize procedures for managing women’s and children’s emergencies. This contributes to improving patient safety and reducing preventable complications and deaths.
The program is being implemented under an exclusive agreement with Jahezia, an accredited provider of obstetric life support programs in the UAE, including the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Basic and Advanced Life Support (BLS) programs.
Multidisciplinary Team Training
The pilot phase targeted obstetricians and gynecologists, pediatricians and neonatologists, family medicine and emergency medicine specialists, anesthesiologists and critical care physicians, as well as midwives, nurses, paramedics, and pre-hospital healthcare providers.
The program adopted a multidisciplinary training model, enabling healthcare team members to practice together in managing critical cases, distributing responsibilities, making rapid decisions, activating response teams, and improving communication between relevant departments.
The program included pre-training, interactive scientific lectures, clinical skills stations, practical exercises, and highly realistic medical simulation scenarios, in addition to theoretical and practical assessments to measure knowledge, skills, and teamwork efficiency.
Advanced Medical Topics
The training covered the management of severe antepartum and postpartum hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, preeclampsia, obstructed labor, shoulder dystocia, abnormal presentations and malpresentation, multiple pregnancies, and assisted vaginal delivery.
The training also covered premature birth and rupture of membranes, injuries during pregnancy, venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrest in pregnancy, pregnancy-modified cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), outpatient emergency deliveries, neonatal resuscitation, pediatric emergencies, and the safe transport and referral of mothers and infants.
Participants participated in group scenarios simulating severe bleeding, preeclampsia, cardiac arrest during pregnancy, obstructed labor, and deterioration in the condition of the mother or newborn. This allowed them to test the speed of response, the readiness of teams, equipment, medications, and communication and referral pathways.
Positive Results
The initial assessment results showed an improvement in participants’ clinical knowledge and skills, and an increased ability to identify risk factors, recognize critical cases early, and initiate life-saving interventions.
Participating teams also demonstrated improvements in the speed of task allocation, communication and teamwork, activation of response systems, and adherence to the sequence of treatment procedures. Furthermore, coordination between the emergency, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, anesthesia, intensive care, and ambulance services was enhanced.
The simulation exercises helped identify several operational gaps, assess the readiness of equipment and medications, test reporting and referral pathways, and develop plans for continuous improvement based on the actual performance of the participating teams.
An Integrated National System
Dr. Adel Al-Shamri Al-Ajmi, CEO of Zayed Giving Initiatives ,CEO Emirates Doctors Initiatives CEO the National Readiness Program (Jahiziyah), stated that the success of the pilot phase represents a strategic step towards building an integrated national system for women’s and children’s emergency preparedness.
He added, “The first few minutes in pregnancy, childbirth, and pediatric emergencies are crucial in saving lives. Therefore, the program focuses on empowering healthcare teams to recognize the situation early, make sound decisions, and initiate life-saving interventions within a coordinated and collaborative framework.”
He explained that the exclusive agreement to deliver accredited programs in the country contributes to standardizing training, maintaining the quality of outcomes, building a national network of qualified trainers and personnel, and ensuring access to specialized training across various public and private healthcare facilities.
He emphasized that the program is not limited to individual training, but also includes developing integrated institutional teams, assessing hospital readiness, conducting periodic exercises, standardizing response, transport, and referral pathways, and monitoring the impact of training on clinical performance and patient safety.
Preparing National Trainers
The program includes a specialized trainer preparation track, targeting a select group of physicians, midwives, nurses, and emergency team members, and qualifying them to supervise lectures, skills stations, and simulation scenarios.
Candidates undergo theoretical and practical training, and are assessed in their teaching, facilitation, group leadership, and feedback skills before participating in supervised training sessions.
This track aims to build a national network of qualified trainers and ensure the program’s sustainability and expansion across the UAE, while maintaining content quality and adhering to academic and operational requirements.
Expansion in State Hospitals
The “Readiness” initiative announced the commencement of preparations for the second phase of its program, which includes the gradual expansion of training in both public and private hospitals, the implementation of specialized courses and periodic simulation exercises, and the establishment of rapid response teams for women’s and children’s emergencies.
The next phase includes developing national indicators to measure the readiness of healthcare facilities, creating a database of trainees and trainers, conducting evaluation visits and field exercises, and monitoring the impact of training on the quality of care and the safety of mothers and children.
The plan also includes enhancing integration between ambulance services, pre-hospital care, and emergency, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, anesthesia, and intensive care departments, ensuring continuity of care and the rapid transfer and referral of cases to appropriate facilities.
The program intends to organize an annual specialized forum on women’s and children’s emergency preparedness, with the participation of physicians, nurses, midwives, paramedics, hospital directors, and medical training and simulation experts, with the aim of exchanging experiences and reviewing best practices and institutional experiences.
The program is being implemented under the slogan:
“Ready Staff… For a Safe Mother and a Healthy Child”
