WAEH Newsletter May 2020
WEBINAR 14 May 2020
How to Maintain the Absolute Essential Care during Covid
Open: to all WAEH members
Topic: “How to Maintain the Absolute Essential Care during Covid”
Keynote webinar by:
Mr Declan W. Flanagan
- Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
- Chairman Joint Research Governance Committee – Moorfields & the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
- Vice President Royal College of Ophthalmologists
- Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Mrs Melanie Hingorani
- Consultant Ophthalmologist, Moorfields Eye Hospital
- Chair, UK Ophthalmology Alliance
- Chair of Professional Standards, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists
Time: May 14, 2020 06:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)San Francisco morning time!
The WAEH Webinars are exclusive to WAEH members. If you would like to participate, please send an email to: . After registration you will receive a link. If you already have questions? Please feel free to already share them! During the webinar you can ask questions via the chat.
We hope to see and talk to you soon!
KKESH Wins Three Patient Experience Excellence Awards
King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH) has won three Patient Experience Excellence Awards (Ihsan) launched by the Ministry of Health. The awards were given by Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan AlRabiah, Minister of Health, during the ceremony held in MOH yesterday on this occasion.
Dr. Abdulaziz Ibrahim AlRajhi, KKESH Chief Executive Officer, has won award of “The Most Influential Leaders” for supporting patient experience. KKESH has won also award of “The Best Improvement Project” for improving and organizing electronic healthcare system of ER patients. In addition to award of “The Highest Score on Patient Experience Measurement Program” for achieving the highest satisfaction rate of healthcare services provided for one-day surgery patients.
View here the full message.
Call For Project IDEAS
Each year 2 to 3 projects can be lead by WAEH member eye hospitals to help shape and improve ophthalmic care on a global scale. Each project can be budgeted with a budget of 7.500 euro. This is paid from the fees of the WAEH membership. Via this newsletter we would like to invite you again to share your project ideas.
Examples of WAEH projects
- Developing an information package for patients about enucleation – Almost ready to be shared!!
- Medical Outcomes
- Development of an international procedure of applying eye drops
- Improving Efficiency within Intravitreal Injecting Clinics
- Management of AMD Patients
- Redefine the patient flow of Glaucoma patients
Send your project proposal to the support team of the WAEH not later than June 1 2020 to maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org – More information and the format can be find online: Call for projects
Message from OrBis about COVID-19
From the OrBis China office, which asked some of our partner hospitals:
Most of hospitals have started to return slowly back to normal, including surgery. Patients only need provide their health code” which shows your personal travel in last 14 days, no stay in Hubei and/or a foreign country in you are ok. Every person who enters into the hospital need to have their temperature checked and provide the “health code”. Beijing is the exception. The hospitals in Beijing only accept patients who have stayed in Beijing more than 14 days. No requirement to do Covid-19 test in Shandong, Hebei and Sichuan partner hospitals
For PPE for the ophthalmologic staff and patients, it is similar in all of our partner hospitals:
- Medical staff need to wear medical surgical mask or N95 mask, safety goggles and gloves. Patients also need to wear a mask. In addition, keep a distance from patients of more than 1.5 meters, wash hands more than 15 seconds after each patient.
- Examination room needs keep air circulation, frequent sterilization the area where patient touched surfaces and on all equipment after each examination
Vietnam
Our MOH – QA department is working to develop a guideline protocol for safe Covid exam and treatment.
India
Most of the partners are developing guidelines of their own to manage the current situation. All India Ophthalmological Society suggested the attached guidelines for ophthalmic facilities in India. Orbis partner, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital has developed their own protocol. Each Orbis partners in India and Nepal are developing some documents to continue emergency eye care services.
· AIOS Preferred Practice Guidelines for Eye Care Facilities in India
· NNJS Guidelines for Eye Care Facilities in Nepal
· SCEH Protocol for Eye care services during COVID 19 situation.
Ethiopia
Apart from the National Comprehensive COVID19 Management Handbook developed by Ethiopian Ministry of Health, there has not been specific guideline/protocol developed for eye health workers. However, we have shared the attached Suggested Clinical Protocols to Prevent COVID-19 developed by Aravind to the Ethiopian Ophthalmological, Optometry and cataract surgeons Associations.
Bangladesh
We have had discussion with partners and there is no specific guidelines for eye health work force available. However, the IEDCR of the Health Ministry developed the guidelines which is widely distributed and advised to follow. Please find attached document from Bangladesh.
Further to my previous email regarding your queries, we have communicated with WAEH Bangladesh partners in Bangladesh and received information about their current practice in the face of COVID 19 situation. These are as follows:
- All routine elective eye surgeries have been postponed until situation is normal
- Only emergency eye care is given at outpatient department
- All attending doctors and nurses are using PPE as per WHO guideline
- Initiation of patient triaging system at the entrance by using thermal scanner
- Facility for hand washing and hand sanitizing is available for clinical staffs and patients
- Printed posters and festoons with COVID 19 message is being displayed at the hospital premises
- Patients are also discouraged to attend hospital unless there is any emergency
- National Guidelines on Clinical Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) (prepared by DGHS and MOH&FW of Bangladesh) has been circulated to Orbis’s Partner Hospitals (IEDCR guideline attached)
If you are interested in the guidelines please contact Maaike van Zuilen –
GA2020 Postponed
IAPB’s Global Assembly 2020 was due to be held in Singapore this October. As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Board has decided to postpone Global Assembly to October 2021.
The COVID-19 outbreak has led to unprecedented closures and restrictions around the world. This has had major implications to our sector in the short term and into the foreseeable future. We have seen many eye health personnel redeployed to join the COVID response efforts until this pandemic begins to retreat.
Under these circumstances, it became clear that the best decision is to postpone the Global Assembly to 11-13 October 2021.
What’s on the agenda
- May WAEH Webinar – 14 May – 06.00 US time
- June board meeting – 4 June – 13.00 UK time
- June WAEH Webinar – 25 June – 06.00 UK time
- July WAEH Webinar – 30 July – 06.00 UK time
- August WAEH Webinar – 27 August – 06.00 UK time
- September WAEH Webinar – 24 September – 06.00 UK time
- September board meeting 25 September – 13.00 UK time
- December board meeting 7 December – 12.00 UK time
Questions?
Do you have a special request? Would you like to be connected to a certain person in one of our member eye hospitals?
Please do not hesitate to contact Maaike van Zuilen: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org