Senior officials from Abu Dhabi’s healthcare community proudly inaugurated today the emirate’s first ever Midwifery Training Program, to be run cooperatively between Corniche Hospital—the emirate’s leading maternity healthcare institution and a SEHA HealthSystem facility—and Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) Abu Dhabi. The landmark program will focus on outreach to UAE Nationals and residents of the Gulf Cooperation Council, offering an 18 month post-registered nurses’ Bachelor of Applied Science in Midwifery degree, as well as the opportunity for students to become licensed as midwives by Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD).
The course will ultimately contribute to the Emiratization of clinical staff, where UAE Nationals currently account for only a small percentage of the staff at facilities like Corniche Hospital. The training program will also provide a channel for qualified midwives trained in the UAE to augment other recruiting efforts and fill vacancies within the SEHA HealthSystem—the largest public healthcare network in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
“Education is at the center of the Johns Hopkins philosophy, and thus a key element in our vision for Corniche Hospital to become a premier teaching hospital for Emiratis and those living in Abu Dhabi,” says Ron Lavater, CEO at Corniche Hospital. “Based on international standards, our midwifery program will train local healthcare practitioners to deliver care for the next generation of women and newborns across the Emirate.”
The curriculum will be reviewed and approved by HCT, Corniche Hospital, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Health Authority Abu Dhabi. Each course will be benchmarked against leading international midwifery institutions, for example, the Royal College of Midwives in the United Kingdom. Looking to the future, Lynda Mikalauskas, Chief Clinical Officer at Corniche Hospital, says that there is support from the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) in the provision of programs that will address the needs of the women and babies of Abu Dhabi in the years to come.
Academic administrators will emphasize the recruitment of UAE Nationals for the new program. However, GCC residents and other expatriate nurses with more than two years of experience within the SEHA HealthSystem are also encouraged to apply. Public healthcare facilities in Abu Dhabi have the option to admit and sponsor a certain number of candidates per annum.
“We at HCT recognize that cooperative education programs with the public sector are integral to providing employers with career-ready graduates; those with the theory and clinical education to enter the healthcare system, and most importantly, to meet the needs of the families with whom the graduate midwife will work,” comments Pamela Cawley, Associate Academic Dean of Health Sciences at HCT. “In the profession of Health Sciences, graduates must combine knowledge with doing and caring – the human side of the practice—which is critical to excellent healthcare.”
During their studies, students enrolled in the Midwifery Training Program will be employed by Corniche Hospital and placed in a nursing role suitable to their desired license and experience level.
Mohamed Al Hameli, Chief Support Services Officer at SEHA—which owns and operates Corniche Hospital—notes that the program will initially enroll 10 students a year with the opportunity for expansion in the next three years. “The Midwifery Training Program offers an extraordinary curriculum that will add lasting value to the entire Abu Dhabi public healthcare system,” says Al Hameli. “At this point, the focus is not on size but on offering the highest quality education. We are extremely pleased that Higher Colleges of Technology is involved in this program as one of the long-standing and premier educational institutes in Abu Dhabi, and that the program has been reviewed and approved by the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in the United States.”
Johns Hopkins Medicine International is contracted by SEHA to manage the day to day operations of Corniche Hospital.
The first class of students will begin studies in February 2011 with several Emirati students already registered for the inaugural class. Those interested in enrolment can schedule a counseling session at HCT anytime up till January 2011, with numerous scholarship opportunities available through the program’s wide network of supporters.
