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Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), which celebrates 15 years of excellence this year, has recorded another milestone year in 2014, as it delivers its unique ‘patients-first’ approach to healthcare to the UAE.
The Abu Dhabi-based flagship hospital recorded more than 106,000 emergency room visits, as many as 223,000 specialty clinic visits, 46,000 urgent care visits, and more than 7,100 surgeries throughout the year, including more than 800 adult and paediatric cardiac surgeries.
“We’ve continued to grow and develop our team of caregivers, our infrastructure and technology, and most importantly our ‘patients first’ philosophy, which drives us every day,” said Dr. Aref Al Shehhi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SKMC.
“Our hospital has long been the flagship healthcare facility in the capital, and indeed the UAE, and our champions continue to advance our goals, elevating patient care to the highest possible levels,” Dr. Al Shehhi added.
SKMC, managed by Cleveland Clinic, is part of the SEHA HealthSystem and owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA), which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Noteworthy Milestones, Key Surgeries and Unique Programs
February 2014 saw SKMC’s unique organ transplant program achieve 100 kidney transplant surgeries conducted, with an Emirati father donating a kidney to his eight year old son. SKMC’s multi-organ transplant program, the longest running program of its kind in the UAE, performed 128 renal transplants since its inception in 2008 through to the end of 2014.
In March of 2014, SKMC celebrated the implantation of its 1000th cardiac device, as part of the SEHA’s electrophysiology (EP) service – a subspecialty within cardiology which focuses on heart rhythm conditions. The EP service at SKMC is the most comprehensive in the country.
The SEHA heart rhythm team at SKMC also added a unique technology known as cryoablation to its EP service. Cryoablation can be used for the treatment of heart rhythm disorders through targeted delivery of deep freezing – typically more than 40 degrees below freezing point – to areas in the heart that cause cardiac arrhythmias.
The UAE chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted 250 wishes for seriously ill children at SKMC in March, since teaming up with the Abu Dhabi-based flagship hospital in 2010.
A nine year old local girl received a revolutionary new magnetic rod treatment for scoliosis at SKMC in 2014, after her parents brought her back from the United States where she was receiving care. The MAGnetic Expansion Control (MAGEC) rod treatment, which, after the first surgery, is a non-invasive method of treating scoliosis using magnets, is a new alternative to painful invasive spinal surgeries.
In the second half of the year, surgeons successfully removed broken pencil pieces from a two year old boy’s eye socket, which were causing life-threatening abscesses in the child’s brain and ocular cavity. The pencil pieces and abscess were removed simultaneously by surgeons from the Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery departments at the hospital who, after working for four and half hours, managed to save the local boy that had fallen and landed on the pencil.
Recognition and Awards
SKMC was also named a winner of the 2014 NDNQI Award for Outstanding Nursing Quality by Press Ganey Associates, Inc., a leading healthcare performance improvement company which partners with more than 11,000 health care facilities to reduce suffering and improve the patient experience. The award recognises the top-performing international hospital that has achieved excellence in overall performance in nursing quality indicators, with SKMC being the only hospital outside of the US to be awarded.
The quality-driven hospital was reaccredited by Joint Commission International (JCI) in April, reaffirming its commitment to quality and excellence in healthcare. This is the third time that the hospital has been accredited by the prestigious body, having previously held JCI accreditation in 2008 and again in 2011.
SKMC has also been recognised for its commitment to quality cardiovascular care, taking part in the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC’s) ‘International Centres of Excellence’ Program. The ACC’s new program provides access to an ACC Data Registry along with access to educational resources designed to help keep physicians, nurses and other members of the cardiac care team up-to-date on the latest best practices and scientific research so that they can make the best decisions with their patients.
SKMC’s American Heart Association International Training Centre was awarded with the American Heart Association’s Silver Recognition Award, in recognition of the hospital’s exemplary first aid, CPR and advanced cardiovascular care lifesaving training program.
SKMC was awarded ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 (ISO 20000) certification, the highest international standard for IT service management. The only hospital in Abu Dhabi, the first in the SEHA healthcare system and likely the only public hospital in the UAE to achieve this accreditation, it was awarded following a rigorous auditing process carried out by the British Standards Institution (BSI) to ensure that SKMC’s IT service management systems operate to the highest possible standards.
Patient Satisfaction Levels
SKMC made great progress in 2014 in increasing patient satisfaction levels thanks in large part to its popular Absher service, which is aimed at increasing the level of interaction with patients and visitors. The service coordinates communication between patients and administrative staff, guides patients through the SEHA healthcare system, and listens to concerns. The flagship facility effectively reduced the number of its patient complaints and also improved the manner in which it managed these complaints. The data showed that complaint reports were down, but that, crucially, each one was effectively addressed and resolved in fewer than seven days.
Technology and Infrastructure Advancements
SKMC reached new frontiers of technology in 2014 with its implementation of the Gulf’s first open architecture smart cleanroom (IV room) with USP <797> and CETA compliant certification, to provide state of the art and quality services with enhanced safety for the patients. Among other uses, the smart IV room is used to prepare total parenteral nutrition (TPN), an IV administration of nutrition.
In May, SKMC expanded its paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) to the community. The 22-bed PICU, which was already operationally the largest in the country, also had five additional beds later added, and sees close to 700 critical paediatric patients annually.
SKMC also introduced FerriScan and cardiac T2 analysis, a non-invasive MRI-based technology that allows doctors to quantitate iron levels in the liver and heart, helping them to better determine the right treatment for thalassemia suffers. According to the Emirates Thalassaemia Society, one in 12 UAE nationals is a carrier for thalassaemia, a disorder that reduces the number of normal blood cells in a patient’s body.
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