The training “Critical Care and Advanced Mechanical Ventilation During Pandemics” was useful

The training “Critical Care and Advanced Mechanical Ventilation during Pandemics”, which I attended together with one of our nurses, was very useful for us. This training was organized as part of the Save the Children’s healthcare project “Intensive Care Management of COVID-19, Advanced Technology and Methodology of Artificial Breathing” in 2022. Doctors and practitioners from the health facilities of Ulaanbaatar Municipality were also involved in the training.

For me and our nurse, the training was very useful in terms of acquiring skills to cope with the pandemic crisis by learning more about advanced modes of mechanical ventilation. It was a significant contribution to my personal and professional development. It enabled us to improve the quality of health care, set standards and implement new guidelines and instructions in an updated form. 

The pressure on our ICU increased from wave to wave during the pandemic. We had to refill our oxygen balloons from UB, 45 kilometers away, and transport them to our soum. Instead, a medical oxygen plant was implemented in Tuv province which allowed us to provide medical oxygen directly from a wall socket. The oxygen ecosystem now directly supplies our ICU as well as other departments of our hospital.

Sharing the new knowledge and skills with other doctors and practitioners from our province

I am now certified to facilitate training on “Clinical Management and Oxygen Therapy for COVID-19 cases at Primary Level Health Care Settings” after attending the training organized as part of the project "Technical Assistance to Strengthen the Covid-19 Response in Mongolia under Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC)". This project has been implemented by Save the Children, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by FHI 360 (Family Health International) since January 2022.

The benefit I got from the training was not only limited to new professional skills; it also sparked ideas and insights that I can use in my work. Another important thing that I appreciated was the that participants were provided with handbooks used in international practice. Operational guidelines and instructions were developed as an integral part of our hospital’s internal bylaw. I developed the regulation for our hospital together with my colleagues, and the operating procedure for a mechanical ventilator is attached to this internal bylaw. 

I will provide further training to other soum doctors on the proper use of the oxygen cylinder, as they lack the skills and knowledge for oxygen therapy, triage of the patient, charging and safely transporting the oxygen cylinder. 

In my opinion, training doctors from the aimag central hospitals was the right approach, enabling them to disseminate new knowledge and skills to soums. The trained doctors themselves need to reflect and improve on what they have acquired in order to effectively pass it on to others.

Doctors serving the soum communities get their advice and instruction from me in the form of telemedicine or face-to-face meetings. Doctors who work in soums mostly get advice and support from their central provincial hospitals rather than doctors or other practitioners at the university of medical science or capital city central hospitals.

I attend the professional trainings 

I have also participated in several advanced professional trainings. I attended workshops organized by the two anesthesiology and critical care associations to which I belong. These associations organize two 2-day workshops each year.

In 2020, national trainers conducted five-day clinical workshops at our soum during the pandemic period. As well, in 2020-2021, I participated in online workshops.

The Central Hospital of our province receives nurses and doctors from soums for five day sessions in our intensive care unit. Depending on their interest and needs, we assign the visiting doctors and nurses to, for example, the departments of surgery, obstetrics and gynecology and anesthesiology. We can receive practitioners from 2-3 soums per session.

In addition, in 2010, I became a certified trainer in critical care rescue under a health project funded by the Asian Development Bank and organized a workshop for the doctors and nurses of other soums.