Of CPR and Doctors Who Refused Clinical Work

March 22, 2005 19:23 PM
Chua Says Doctors Who Refused Clinical Work May Not Be Promoted

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Bernama) -- Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said Tuesday that the refusal of government doctors performing administrative functions to do clinical work as required could jeopardise their prospects for promotion.

He said the requirement was made in a directive issued by the ministry six months ago but he was disappointed to note some doctors including hospital directors were still reluctant to perform clinical duties.

Dr Chua said this in response to an incident in Alor Star where 50 doctors attending a conference were unable to apply cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR, a procedure to artificially maintain the flow of air to a patient's lungs by compressing the heart externally) when one of them collapsed.

The ministry directive requires doctors performing administrative functions to carry out 10 hours of clinical work per week.

Its objective is to help ease the shortage of doctors in government hospitals and to support the case for appointing doctors as directors of hospitals.

Dr Chua said doctors who refused to do clinical work could be considered as no longer interested in being doctors.

"To me, this is a question of pride, of the image of the doctors and the people's faith in doctors.

"If a doctor had struggled through training for six or seven years but seemingly loses interest in clinical work after confirmation, and is more keen on administration, then it would have been better that he had studied to be an administrator," he told reporters in the lobby of Parliament House.

Dr Chua said that on a visit to Sabah he found only one out of four directors of large and modern hospitals abiding by the directive to do clinical duties.

"The other three were not doing clinical work even though their administrative duties were not heavy. I believe they had graduated from university not more than 10 years ago but already they were not interested in being doctors," he said.

He said the ministry had launched a "continuous medical education" programme headed by Health Deputy Director-General Datuk Dr Ismail Merican to ensure all doctors did not abandon their clinical work.

On another matter, Dr Chua said the ministry for the first time would carry out a survey to collect data on ear and hearing problems among Malaysians.

He said the survey from March 28 until the end of the year would cover about 10,000 people from 2,100 families picked randomly.

"We do not have data on these problems now, so it is important to determine the actual source of hearing problems," he said.

He urged the public to operate with the ministry's researchers, adding that those identified in the survey to have hearing problems would be given free treatment.

-- BERNAMA

i find the definition by BERNAMA of CPR or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation somewhat confusing :: "a procedure to artificially maintain the flow of air to a patient's lungs by compressing the heart externally". This may be a better definition ::

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a combination of rescue breathing and chest compressions delivered to victims thought to be in cardiac arrest. When cardiac arrest occurs, the heart stops pumping blood. CPR can support a small amount of blood flow to the heart and brain to “buy time” until normal heart function is restored.

OR

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) consists of mouth-to-mouth respiration and chest compression. CPR allows oxygenated blood to circulate to vital organs such as the brain and heart. CPR can keep a person alive until more advanced procedures (such as defibrillation - an electric shock to the chest) can treat the cardiac arrest. CPR started by a bystander doubles the likelihood of survival for victims of cardiac arrest.

History Of CPR::
Modern CPR developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The discoverers of mouth-to-mouth ventilation were Drs. James Elam and Peter Safar. Though mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was described in the Bible (mostly performed by midwives to resuscitate newborns) it fell out of practice until it was rediscovered in the 1950s.

In early 1960 Drs. Kouwenhoven, Knickerbocker, and Jude discovered the benefit of chest compression to achieve a small amount of artifical circulation. Later in 1960, mouth-to-mouth and chest compression were combined to form CPR similar to the way it is practiced today.

How to do it ::

• Check this simple chart
  
• Print a pocketable chart here
  
• View the CPR video
  The above are from the University of Washington School of Medicine, CPR webpages.
  
• CPR :: Know What To Do, the ABC of CPR
  
• IAC-CPR - Learn about a potentially beneficial adjunct to CPR.
  

These days, resuscitators carrying out CPR may fear the transmission of HIV. But to date there has never been a case of HIV transmitted by mouth-to-mouth CPR.

Is Self-CPR possible? Check out this urban legend here