Emergency Medicine in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

It has been more than a decade since emergency medicine became recognized as a specialty in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In the last fifteen years emergency medicine has widely established itself and developed rapidly in the Kingdom. The three main emergency departments are: Salmanyia Medical Complex (SMC), Royal Medical Services of Bahrain Defence Force (RMS-BDF) and King Hamad University Hospital (KHUH) are now fully equipped and operated by a majority of board certified emergency physicians.Standardized protocols, and the Central National Ambulance will be established in the near future, and the ambulances will offer both basic and advanced life support by trained nurses and paramedics.Emergency Medicine residency training programs were established in the main three hospitals in Bahrain for the Arab Board Certification initially, while currently only two hospitals, BDF hospital and KHUH are recognized as training centers for the Saudi Board Residency Program.This article will focus on many aspects related to emergency medicine in the Kingdom of Bahrain including: history of health care systems in Bahrain, hospitals and primary care, disaster management, Emergency medical services (EMS), hospital-based emergency care, training in emergency medicine and universities. We aim to present Bahrain’s past and existing emergency medicine experience, our perspective about the existing challenges faced by the specialty, and the future plans for the advancement of emergency medicine in the Kingdom.

Burnout and Stress Among Emergency Physicians in the Kingdom of Bahrain Using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) and Short Form-stress Overload Scale (SOS-S)

“…It is located in the Arabian Gulf with a total area of about 770 km² and a population of 1,315,000. 43 Healthcare is provided through the three major governmental hospitals: Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), Bahrain Defence Force Hospital (BDFH), and King Hamad University Hospital (KHUH), all of which have wellestablished EDs, in addition to 27 local health centers. 43 An ethical approval was acquired prior to conducting this multi-center cross-sectional study from the concerned bodies: The Institutional Review Board at KHUH, Secondary Health Care Research Study Sub Committee at SMC, and research ethical committee at BDF hospital.…”

“…Another limitation is that EPs working in the private sector were not included in this study; this is because the majority are general physicians without formal EM training, their EDs are considered as an urgent care unit rather than a fully developed ED, the number of patients they see are small and the majority come with stable conditions, and nally they work in a different daily duty pattern. 43…”

Evolution of emergency medical services in the Kingdom of Bahrain

“…The healthcare system in Bahrain evolved in the early twentieth century, and similar to other GCC countries, oil and natural gas production revenues helped to establish the healthcare systems, with an estimate of 5% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) being spent on healthcare [4]. The Kingdom is covered by a total of 24 governmental and private hospitals, where primary healthcare services are provided through 28 public health centers [3].…”

Correction to: Emergency Medicine in the Kingdom of Bahrain

“…Following the publication of the original article [ 1 ], it was brought to our attention that author Leena Alqasem was erroneously included as Leena Alqusem.…”

“…The correct author’s surname is included in the author list of this ‘Correction’ and has been updated in the original article [ 1 ].…”