Mafraq Hospital houses one of the strongest nursing education departments in the UAE

Mafraq Hospital, one of the anchor general hospitals in the SEHA HealthSystem, owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA), today announced the incredible success and growth of its Nursing Department in addition to the implementation of its new  Peer Competency Validation Programme. 

“Thanks to our Chief Nursing Officer, Ms. Gail Smith, who believes in a learning culture, we can now proudly say that Mafraq Hospital has one of the strongest and most up-to-date Nursing Education Departments in the UAE. Our department has grown substantially over the past three years. At the moment, there are 12 specialized individuals dedicated solely to the Nursing Education team,” said Mr. Emilio Galea, Nursing Education Department, Mafraq Hospital. 

Mafraq’s Nursing Education department has produced and/or facilitated a total of 428 educational programs (58 different topics) from January to October 2010 alone.

 As well as the above achievements, the department recently introduced a completely new approach to validating competency of all nurses – a program known as Peer Competency Validation’. The program has been implemented over the last few months and has proven to be extremely successful, practical and innovative among the nursing staff. 

The program takes the form of peer validation; nursing skills are validated at the bed side as well as in the skills lab. A large number of Charge Nurses have been trained to be Validator Assessors, and together with the Unit Managers, they have developed very specific education programs that target problem areas identified. The process enables peers to assess each others’ practices in a non-threatening and supportive environment. This process intends to increase the standard of care provided whilst identifying those individuals in the organization that can act as role models. 

Gail Smith, Chief Nursing Officer, Mafraq Hospital, said, “The main objective of our department is to ensure that all our nurses are equipped with the necessary knowledge and know-how to be able to give evidence based professional standard of care. We, as a team, strongly believe that education is the key to a successful organization and therefore, our effort is to continuously support our nurses with formal training that moulds them into caring and knowledgeable professionals competent to take on the care of any client,” 

“Mafraq Hospital is part of the SEHA Healthsystem and this means our standards are set high and we need to be on a par with world class hospitals regionally and internationally. Education helps us maintain our edge and ensure our patients satisfaction,” she added.

In-service education has been offered at Mafraq for approximately 18 years. Historically it was managed by a small team of five people whose main task was organizing orientation programs and Basic Life Support certification and re-certification. 

Now, Mafraq Hospital’s Nursing Education Department consists of a fully functioning skills lab which has been revamped and updated at a considerable cost.  New equipment such as state-of-the-art adult, pediatric and newborn mannequins for specific training needs are available. In addition to the installation of interactive multimedia screens for teaching; nurses having access to on-line libraries and the internet to keep themselves up to date. 

The department also purchased an on-line interactive procedure manual which contains over 900 nursing procedures for all specialties as an internationally validated tool to aid nurses in their daily tasks. There will also be electronic display screens in all areas to educate both staff and patients by sharing vital information and updates. Recently, a venue close to the hospital, in the area of the hospital accommodation was also transformed from a storage space into a modern and comfortable auditorium where different educational activities may be housed.

Mafraq Hospital is owned and operated by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA), which is responsible for all the curative activities of public hospitals and clinics in Abu Dhabi. The hospital is managed by Bumrungrad International, one of the most renowned hospital management companies in Asia, recognized internationally for its commitment to patient care and customer service.