Training Health Professionals in a Security Environment

• Cheptum Joyce Jebet

  National Defence University - Kenya

  Author

• Levy Mukolwe

  University of Nairobi

  Author

• Hellen Kamotho

  University of Nairobi

  Author

Training of health care professionals is unique owing to the need for knowledge acquisition, skills, and competencies in caring for human life. It requires a delicate balance on what should be done for the client/patient and their families to avoid adverse outcomes. The situation becomes worse in a risky environment that compromises the lives of both health professionals and care seekers. These individuals are likely to face serious health risks such as exposure to hazardous materials, physical injuries, and mental stress. With complexities in health care and management, there is a need to diversify health professional training to reduce such risks. Therefore, learners working in such a setup need to be equipped with not only professional knowledge but with additional training to prepare them for deployment in security-challenged settings. Training on how to respond to emergencies in a tactical manner is critical. For example, interlacing basic life support with tactical combat casualty care. In addition, learners need to have clear clinical reasoning that will help in enhancing decision-making and problem-solving abilities. This paper describes the 
aspects of health training in security-challenged environments. A desk research of scholarly evidence was embarked on through internal and external desk reviews of existing scholarly literature. The search terms were security environment, health professionals, risky environment, health risk, and military training. The research question was, ‘How is training of health professionals in a security environment?’ Content analysis was then done to examine the content, themes, and opinions in regard to health training in a security environment. The findings highlighted the experiences of training health professionals in a security setting. The study findings revealed that regular refresher training through simulations is important in ensuring the retention of knowledge and skills. Further, exposing the learners to risky environments using realistic combat scenarios is essential to validate what the students have learned through practical, real-world applications. 

1. Cheptum Joyce Jebet, National Defence University - Kenya

   Dr. Joyce Jebet is a senior lecturer at the Defence College of Health Sciences, National Defence University - Kenya. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, a Master of Science in Public Reproductive Health, and a PhD in Midwifery. She is a supervisor, teacher, and researcher with a passion for maternal and neonatal health. She is an award-winning midwife and a national trainer in emergency obstetric and newborn care in Kenya. She has supervised several postgraduate students to completion, won research grants, developed and reviewed several nursing and midwifery curricula, presented scientific papers, and has several publications. 

2. Levy Mukolwe , University of Nairobi

   TLevi Mukolwe is an author and healthcare professional with experience in both academic research and medical practice. He is a registered nurse by profession and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Nairobi. Mukolwe has worked for a number of organizations, such as Nairobi's Aga Khan Hospital. His interests go beyond practice to include coaching and training medical professionals, with an emphasis on increasing healthcare education and capacity building.

3. Hellen Kamotho , University of Nairobi

   Colonel (Dr.) Hellen Kamotho is a  military healthcare leader and education innovator at the National Defence University–Kenya (NDU-K) in Kenya's Defence College of Health Sciences (DCHS). She was the Principal of DCHS and is now the Chief Nursing Officer at Nairobi Regional Hospital.

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