Patient Care Assistants (PCAs) provide a valuable function in hospital and general healthcare environments as they help with providing valuable auxiliary care, support and services to patients. For instance, PCAs assist patients with their personal care needs such as showering, dressing and eating, they also help patients move around the facility by pushing them in wheelchairs or in mobile beds.
The duties they carry out enable professional nurses to focus more on delivering the specialized care they are trained for, and thereby ensuring better utilization of their skills.
HMC has established a comprehensive PCA training program to develop and train healthcare staff to take on this important function within the inpatient wards.
Corporate Nursing and Midwifery Graduate Second Batch of Patient Care Assistants
The Corporate Nursing and Midwifery Department presided over the graduation ceremony for the second batch of Patient Care Assistants (PCA) who completed their training to commence working to support nurses in taking care of patients.
Ms. Mariam Nooh Al-Mutawa, Acting Chief Nursing Officer presiding over the graduation of a new batch of Patient Care Assistants following the successful conclusion of their training.
Ms. Muna Al-Hetmi, DoNE - NMED & Program lead of PCA training presided over the PCA graduation, which was conducted in the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) on 26 April 2022. Ms. Mariam Nooh Al-Mutawa (Deputy CNO - HMC), Ms. Refa Hanish Bakhit (A/EDoN - Rumailah Hospital), Ms. Saadiya Ahmad Al-Hebail (EDoN - ACC), and Mr. Ahmad Abu Jaber (EDoN - Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital) were among the special guests to recognize this important occasion.
PCAs provide a valuable function in hospital or healthcare environment as they help with providing care, support and services to patients. They assist patients with their personal care needs such as showering, dressing and eating, they also help patients move around the facility by pushing them in wheelchairs or in mobile beds. The duties they carry out enable professional nurses to focus more on delivering the specialized care they are trained for, and thereby ensuring better utilization of their skills.
This graduation confirmed the successful completion for 23 male PCAs of a well-structured competency based educational program for one month at the Itqan Simulation Center and three months clinical orientation in different facilities. Previous PCAs who completed this training and have been deployed across HMC proved their dedication, commitment, and passion in assisting patients and healthcare providers to ensure better care for patients.
Ms. Mariam Nooh Al - Mutawa (Deputy CNO) congratulated all the PCAs on their graduation day and encouraged them to advance their carrier as a licensed healthcare worker in HMC in the future. She then presented all the PCAs with their graduation certificates and a token of appreciation.
Ms. Muna Al-Hetmi also presented certificates and a token of appreciation to four registered nurses and one acting head nurse from Rumailah Hospital for their efforts in delivering the PCA Training Program and giving procedure demonstrations. The Nurse Educators were also recognized for their commitment to training and orienting the PCAs during the past four months.
Ms. Refa Hanish Bakhit (A/EDoN - RH) acknowledged the efforts of educators as well as the ‘buddies’ who helped to train the PCAs to achieve their competency in practical work settings. She welcomed more PCAs to join the Rumailah Hospital team.
Ms. Saadiya Ahmad Al-Hebail (EDoN - ACC) recognized the hard work of PCAs at ACC and appreciated Mr. Saneeb Abdu (PCA – ACC) for his significant effort in timely escalation of care needs that helped in saving the life of a patient at ACC.
Mr. Ahmad Abu Jaber (EDoN - HMGH) thanked all the PCAs who worked tremendously hard to care and support patients at HMGH and other facilities during third wave of COVID-19.
Mr. Michael Concepcion (PCA - ACC) represented the PCA batch and thanked the nurse educators and buddies for their guidance and encouragement, helping them to work competently.
The program was formally ended up with the closing remarks by Ms. Muna Al-Hetmi.
