ShareBy Abdellatif Sharaa
KUWAIT: The National Campaign for Cancer Awareness (CAN) started its specialized courses for primary care doctors and nurses in cooperation with health ministry in order to train them on communication skills with patients and their families, and cancer patients in particular. Chairman of the Board of CAN Oncologist Dr Khalid Al-Saleh said the campaign completed the 97th course to train nurses in cooperation with the nursing directorate of the Ministry of Health as part of the CAN training programs, during which 2409 nurses were trained until February 2023.
He said CAN trains nurses on the communications skills with patients and their families, especially cancer patients. He said an integrated program presented by oncologists to the trainees and it includes description of cancer disease, its stages, the rate of occurrence in Kuwait and the world, means of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, early detection and recovery rate. Dr Al-Saleh said the interest in training nursing teams is due to their close contact with the patient and his family, also the doctors, adding that they are being taught the correct information on cancer diseases, and all that prepare them to answer any question in a sound scientific way.
He said that the nursing teams are the ones who administer the prescribed medicines by doctors, so they are the pillar in presenting treatment, so attention must be paid to the accuracy of their health knowledge in regards to cancer diseases. He stressed on continuing the training of primary care doctors on identifying the initial signs of tumors as an important aspect of early diagnosis of cancer in its early stages which helps in increasing recovery rates.
He said 1356 primary care doctors were trained by February 2023 and courses are still continuing. Dr Al-Saleh thanked Primary care and nursing directorates of Ministry of Health for its interest in training its staff to refresh their knowledge and gain skills that will benefit them at their work and serve patients which is the goal everybody seeks to fulfill.
