Global FICCS engages health care providers in continuing education for themselves and their peers.
CPR and ACLS Training
Since 2017, Global FICCS has trained over 1000 Kenyan medical staff in CPR and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). Through our partnership with The Disque Foundation, we have provided free online training along with hands-on simulation and certification. We have also developed an interactive simulation curriculum and an ongoing training curriculum for ACLS providers.
To augment this important training, we provide life-saving medical supplies including defibrillators, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and electrocardiogram (EKG) machines to multiple urban and remote hospitals and clinics. We continue to train in CPR and ACLS and now have over 20 certified instructors who teach courses to hundreds of community members throughout the year.
Advanced Cardiac and Casualty Training (ACCT) Course
In 2019, we took the first steps to establish a more advanced curriculum and now offer the Advanced Cardiac and Casualty Training (ACCT) course, a higher level course involving simulation and skills labs for advanced airway, management of critical cardiac patients, and diagnostic ultrasound.
Aspirin Initiative
Aspirin is a life-saving medication, proven to reduce morbidity and mortality for those afflicted with heart attacks and strokes. Unfortunately, this important medication that is widely available in developed countries can be difficult to find in many communities in the developing world. Global FICCS is working to provide a sustainable aspirin supply and distribution to ensure all communities have access to this critical medication. In remote communities and urban settings, aspirin saves lives.
Community CPR Initiatives
Global FICCS’s extended CPR initiative in Nairobi and surrounding communities has established a network of local health advocates who are equipped with the knowledge and skills to train their fellow community members in CPR. We also teach CPR and basic health skills in local community centers (see Box Girls ) as well as in Masai communities, including Loita, Magadi, and Ngenche.
Simulation Training
One way that Global FICCS is working to enhance the existing educational paradigm in Kenya and East Africa is by establishing a center for hands-on, simulated practice. There have been multiple studies that demonstrate the efficacy of simulation training over other methods of teaching in acquisition of skills as well as clinical management of patients. Since 2017, we have been using simulated teaching sessions to enhance our health care education. Feedback from simulation training participants repeatedly reflects a positive training experience and improved community outcomes. We have created a simulation-based curriculum in basic life support (BLS) and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), as well as a higher-level curriculum involving simulation and skills labs for advanced airway, management of critical cardiac patients, and ultrasound through our Advanced Cardiac and Casualty Training (ACCT) course. In addition, we have been teaching simulation-based CPR to local communities and social outreach organizations.
Global FICCS is working to expand our simulation-based training in CPR/BLS, ACLS, ATLS, ACCT, and further advanced curriculum to not only physicians but nurses, EMS personnel, community leaders, teachers, and the general population.
In the coming years, Global FICCS hopes to create a simulation center to serve medical practitioners in Nairobi and the surrounding communities. Headquartered in Nairobi, the center would also have a mobile arm that can travel to remote communities to replicate our simulation training.
Since 2017 we have trained over 400 providers in ACLS and over 500 in basic CPR. Some of our expert trainees have now started their own company, Medswipe, to continue year-round training of health-care providers.
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