Partnerships
Collaboration with Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHMI), USA for Women Health Center
Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS) has always been cognizant of its responsibility as a community leader in healthcare. To further serve the community’s women, SIHS collaborated with the Shahid Hussain Foundation and Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHMI) to establish a women’s health center.
The mission of the Shalamar Health Center for Women is to address women’s needs personally and conveniently. Through the integration of services and a commitment to improved health and wellness, the Center will offer an integrated, holistic care plan for women. This would be accomplished using a coordinating center to provide comprehensive medical services via guided care plans. The Shalamar Health Center for Women will be facilitated by the current consultants and their respective departments. The center aims to be a one-stop clinic for breast health services, with multi-disciplinary teams on hand. The development of the women’s health center will occur in different phases. A team of experts from JHI came in for the first phase to conduct a preliminary assessment of the Shalamar Hospital and its affiliated schools to better grasp the situation on the ground and conduct a functional analysis of the departments to identify gaps. The team performed a series of interviews with various department faculty and hospital personnel and all supporting departments to obtain a good understanding of their workplace practices. The discussion revolved around the needs of the women in the community and the requirements for establishing a women’s health center at Shalamar Hospital.
The second leg of the journey entailed sending groups of aspiring medical personnel to the Sibley Memorial and John Hopkins in Baltimore for clinical observerships to learn about their standard practices. We also hope to establish an open communication channel with JHI through various consultation modalities so that they can assist us in developing our personnel’s capacity, provide a roadmap to improve clinical services at Shalamar Hospital, and collaborate with us on future research initiatives.
Internship Program with LUMS
While the theory has its advantages in learning, it only fulfills practical needs in a way that genuine hands-on work experience does. To tackle this gap, the Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences has signed an MoU with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) to create an internship program to help cultivate and foster future healthcare leaders. This collaboration has provided young and upcoming students to apply their academic knowledge to real-world initiatives in a working hospital to improve patient care. Mentoring has been an essential part of the program to polish the interns into successful professionals.
The hospital’s senior leadership supported these interns in their endeavors and played a vital role in handing over key projects beneficial for the hospital’s operations. Furthermore, the interns were allowed autonomy to execute these projects while being guided so that they might acquire confidence in their talents. Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences has always aimed to make a positive difference in society to improve the region’s healthcare sector.
LUMS & SMDC Collaboration for seven-star Medical Education Program
Shalamar Medical and Dental College (SMDC) has initiated a seven-star medical education plan similar to the ones offered internationally by renowned medical colleges. Accordingly, SMDC will launch a 1+5 year MBBS program for their medical students. The students who get admission at SMDC have the option to spend the first year of their medical education at LUMS and then continue their 5-year MBBS program at Shalamar.
During this year, a selected student from SMDC will take courses at LUMS in critical thinking and logic, cell and molecular biology basics, and methods laboratory courses. Initially, only twenty students will be given this option; over time, more seats will be added as the program gains popularity.
Program benefits
- This program will help strengthen the fundamental concepts of biology required to understand disease development, disease progression, and diagnostics. The benefits of such courses will develop our doctors to be globally competitive with international doctors.
- The faculty of biology at LUMS is enthusiastic about joining this initiative. This initiative will open up such avenues for other medical institutes in Pakistan to follow the same pattern.
- Imparting such knowledge and skills in MBBS students will help initiate quality research in medical colleges and universities. This partnership will help Pakistan to contribute toward new knowledge generation and discoveries in medicine.
- Shahid Hussain has offered that the Shahid Hussain Foundation will bear the LUMS fees of the first batch of twenty students from Shalamar.
Sehat Sahulat Card Initiative
The Sehat Sahulat card program is an ambitious endeavor by the government to provide universal health coverage to all in Pakistan. As the leading healthcare provider in the region, Shalamar Hospital was quick to join the impaneled hospitals, as providing accessible healthcare is one of our top priorities.
The great thing about the Sehat Sahulat Programme is that it is cashless and all one needs is their CNIC with them to avail of it. The services are covered under two distinct benefits; the priority / tertiary care package covers all significant high-cost critical treatments like cancer management, cardiology, accidents, ventilator support, burns, etc. At the same time, the secondary care benefit package covers all the remaining medical and surgical treatments, including abdominal surgeries, medical conditions, deliveries / C-sections, etc.
Shalamar Hospital came on board with the initiative in November 2021, and since then, it has been a steep learning curve for the administration, doctors, patients, and their families. Despite the challenges, our team rose to the occasion. In coordination with the doctors and the marketing, the Office of the Deputy Medical Director has strived to remain on top of all program-related concerns. This includes resolving complications that emerged with forms relating to the Sehat card and offering training to doctors and receptionists. A health facilitation officer from the state life insurance company is also on hand to help patients comprehend the ins and outs of the Sehat card program’s offerings and deal with the patients’ queries.
Shalamar Hospital, apart from others, has incorporated all of its specialties into the Sehat card program. We are committed to providing maximum relief to the patients coming in from the surrounding area. As the different aspects of the Sehat card program develop and evolve, the hospital is ready to adapt.
Partnership with AKU for Research Methodology Workshops
Research is the foundation upon which great institutions are built and grow, and conducting it accurately is crucial to achieving this. To tackle this, Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS), in the fall of 2021, showed a training workshop on Research Methodology. The two-day training workshop was conducted on 29th and 30th September 2021, with over 30 participants from our different departments, including Shalamar Medical and Dental College (SMDC), Shalamar Nursing College (SNC), Shalamar School of Allied Health Sciences (SSAHS), and Shalamar Hospital.
We were joined by a team from Agha Khan University, who talked about elements of research design. The workshop covered research methods and various components of a research paper, such as the literature review, the importance of hypothesis determination, and the framing of research questions. Of course, a research technique methodology would be complete with a discussion of research ethics and design elements.
Our participants and the AKU moderators continued on an enthusiastic path, engaging in various dialogues, group activities, and sessions to harness their research skills, focusing specifically on data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
SIHS and AKU-SONAM signed an MoU
Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS) and Aga Khan University School of Nursing & Midwifery (AKU-SONAM) signed an MoU. This MOU aims to develop cooperation in developing and strengthening clinical training, skills, academic research-related services, and promotion of excellence in practice-based education in nursing.
In furtherance of this purpose, using AKU- SONAM’s expertise, conducting an assessment at Shalamar Hospital to see the ground reality of nursing practices and processes. Based on the evaluation, propose a plan to engage AKU in improving the hospital’s nursing systems, including the nurses: Roles and responsibilities, Allocation, Monitoring & Evaluation.
Shalamar Summer Immersion Program in Partnership with Eye On Ivy
To increase community engagement, Shalamar Hospital has pioneered a unique internship program that allows potential Medical students to immerse themselves in the hospital environment to see if they are a good fit for their chosen careers. Shalamar Hospital believes in grooming young talent, so in partnership with Eye on Ivy, an educational consulting firm, a cohort of A-level and O-level students was selected. The goal was to give the students exposure to an actual hospital setting, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their future.
The summer immersion program included a mix of observerships in the OPD, where they got to interact with doctors, some hands-on training in First Aid, and informative seminars on various subjects. They were also tasked with conducting patient satisfaction surveys and assisting patients with OPD. The students particularly enjoyed their stint in the ER, doing first Aid training and learning how to use a sphygmomanometer to check their blood pressure. They also spent a very informative session learning about their environment in the Operation theatre complex. A free dental checkup was also included in the conducted activities. This internship will continue in the future as well.
Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS) & INMOL Cancer Hospital Collaboration
The Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS) and the INMOL Cancer Hospital signed an MoU to develop cooperation and promote mutual understanding and excellence in practice-based education, research, and knowledge exchange in breast cancer identification and treatment. The partnership will focus on improving pathways between the two institutes to ensure timely disease identification and treatment.
Collaborative activities will include teamwork towards all forms of breast cancer treatment, including delivering comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic applications of nuclear medicine and breast surgery, as per the existing standards of care. Both institutes will engage in collaborative procedures on cancer patients, with Inmol Hospital providing services to inject the radioactive dye and carry out the Lymphoscintigraphy. At the same time, Shalamar Hospital identifies the sentinel lymph nodes using the gamma probe. Opportunities for quality enhancements in patient treatment, handling, and collaborative research and development will also be identified. The partnership will also promote exchanges of information and materials and other academic cooperation and collaboration as mutually agreed upon.
SIHS and University Hospitals Dorset, UK, signed an MOU
The Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences (SIHS) and the University Hospitals Dorset, United Kingdom, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen the ties between their institutions. This MOU aims to develop cooperation in research, provision of services, and promotion of mutual understanding and excellence in practice-based education in rheumatology and arthritis.
The Parties have agreed to the following activities in areas of mutual interest:
- Developing and executing research collaborations, particularly research on giant cell arteritis (GCA) in the local Pakistan population. This will be done using the expertise of Dr. Asim Khurshid’s consultant rheumatologist at University Hospitals Dorset and the patients/resources available to Dr. Saira Elaine Anwer Khan, Head of Rheumatology at SIHS.
- Receiving the input and expertise of University Hospitals Dorset through Dr. Khurshid to help establish SIHS’s database for rheumatology, with the possibility of collaborating in designing a custom database application for rheumatology data collection.
- Providing training for service provision, including ultrasound usage, etc., from University Hospitals Dorset’s personnel through the SIHS platform, to be received by SIHS and Pakistan national healthcare professionals.
- Organizing an internship/fellowship program for healthcare professionals at SIHS to be given a short-term contract at University Hospitals Dorset
- Organizing an annual/bi-annual conference on rheumatology and arthritis through the SIHS platform to help gather and encourage learning for local rheumatology specialists
- Identifying other opportunities for quality enhancements in patient treatment and handling and taking necessary steps to ensure excellent healthcare services.
Centre of Excellence at Shalamar Hospital
Research has always been a cornerstone of Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences’ innovation strategy. The Centre of Excellence (COE) framework was established to instill a thirst for research among the SIHS community. Its goal is to encourage forward-thinking researchers to develop novel answers to today’s healthcare issues.
The COE will help standardize best practices in the health sector and incorporate them into its service delivery system, continuously improving service delivery standards.
The core goals of the COE are to
- Use the vast intellectual pool to develop and disseminate knowledge by promoting a research environment among students and professors.
- Recognize the potential for improving patient treatment and handling, and take necessary steps to ensure excellent healthcare services.
- Develop an enhanced curriculum that includes methodologies aligned with current population needs and evolving health industry trends.
Through COE, we wish to introduce a culture of high-quality research that is the bedrock of an outstanding institution.
TEAM
Ali Khan Director,Partnerships & Programs Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences
Rao Abu Ul Hassan Communication & Engagement Officer
Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences