Sharjah: Members of the Pink Caravan’s medical team completed a specialist clinical breast assessment training ahead of the start of the UAE-wide breast cancer campaign.
The Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) course at University Hospital Sharjah (UHS) was held to educate 60 of the medical professionals participating in the forthcoming Pink Caravan Ride about the latest advances in clinical breast examinations and enhance their health assessment skills.
Pink Caravan Ride, an annual breast cancer awareness initiative from Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP), will travel the UAE providing free clinical examinations in over 50 clinics and promoting early detection of the disease. The 11-day pan-UAE journey begins on March 7.
Organisers of the campaign, running under the theme ‘7 Years, for 7 Emirates’, say that the teaching of such important core aspects is essential for accuracy in diagnosis and to maximise the efficacy of the campaign.
“With every health-care promotion campaign that undertakes assessments to check for diseases, it is imperative that the medical team participating is trained to the best possible standard,” said Dr Sawsan Al Madhi, head of the Medical and Awareness Committee of Pink Caravan Ride and director-general of FoCP.
“This is especially important for the early detection of certain symptoms that can cause breast cancer.”
She said the Pink Caravan has once again teamed up with leading health-care institution Sharjah Clinical & Surgical Training Centre and a number of its expert doctors to ensure that its team of health-care providers receive an overview of the latest methods of detecting breast cancer and the key skills necessary to ensure an effective medical consultation.
The CBE workshop focused on the elements needed for a successful breast health-care assessment, including breast carcinoma knowledge, key communication skills, breast imaging options and knowing when to refer to a specialist.
The training course also featured a session on correct data entry, which was attended by the campaign’s medical team members from the private health-care sector who will be managing and operating its clinics. These included staff from UHS’s Sharjah Clinic, Zulekha Hospital’s Dubai Clinic, Health Point’s Abu Dhabi Clinic, Thumbay Hospital’s Ajman Clinic and Shaikh Khalifa Speciality Hospital’s RAK Clinic.
On the latest technologies used during the ride, Dr Al Madhi said: “The Pink Caravan has come up with a data entry application that will help medical teams to gather patient data on the move throughout the ride as well as at other medical screening camps.”
Since its inception in 2011, Pink Caravan has travelled more than 1,420km across the seven emirates. It has conducted a total of 11,736 mammograms and 1,802 ultrasounds and last year enabled 1,119 UAE nationals and 3,940 residents to receive free breast examinations. Pink Caravan’s total of 455 medical clinics has offered early breast cancer detection screenings for 41,391 people, including 8,526 men.
