College of the North Atlantic – Qatar (CNA-Q) Health Sciences students are using the knowledge gained during their studies to help battle Covid-19, according to a statement issued yesterday.
In early April, just as Covid-19 was on the rise in Qatar, nine CNA-Q Respiratory Therapy (RT) students were approached by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) to join the frontline and work as full-fledged Respiratory Therapists.
The patient cases in the intensive care units and emergency room were dramatically increasing and the workloads of the Respiratory Therapists at HMC were starting to get overwhelmed, it was recalled in the statement.
Having been trained alongside the hospital RT’s 35 hours per week since September, the CNA-Q students were not unfamiliar with the clinical environment of HMC.
“Respiratory therapists have always been frontline workers, Covid-19 or no Covid-19. We’re very proud to belong to a group of professionals, who never fail to put in their 101%. Being thrown head first into this pandemic as premature RTs would’ve turned into a disaster if it wasn’t for our collective motivation and the instructors who trained us for any and every situation,” said RT student Tania Abab.
The CNA-Q RT students were easily integrated into the daily tasks of treating and managing severely critical patients, including areas with critical Covid-19 patients. The students carried on with their CNA-Q online studies during this time, and also continued to be successful in their online evaluations.
During May, Sidra Medicine Pharmacy Department contacted CNA-Q to ask if clinical work term students from the Pharmacy Technician Programme would be interested to volunteer, working at their pharmacy department. A total of six students have been working under the supervision of a senior technician and are spending around 30-40 hours a week in the Outpatient Pharmacy.
Senior Advanced Care Paramedicine students Ruqayyah Bilal and Mohamed Ahmed of the CNA-Q Advanced Care Paramedic programme have been working with Hamad Medical Corporation Ambulance Service. They have been engaging in direct patient contact during times of high risk due to Covid-19 to care for the sick and injured in Qatar.
“I am excited to join and serve at CNA-Q,” said the new dean of Health Sciences, Dr Jean Moraros. “Our growing academic programmes are highly in demand, well sought out by students and well respected throughout the country and the world. We provide opportunities for students to grow as individuals and become expert and caring healthcare professionals in an environment that is intellectually stimulating, collaborative in learning and purposeful in outcomes. Our graduates go on to emerge with newfound knowledge and skills and become lifelong learners and servants to their local communities and the nation of Qatar.”