Int’l neurocritical care society honors Kuwaiti physician
NEW YORK: The Neurocritical Care Society (NCS) has honored Dr Yasser Abulhasan of Kuwait with the ‘2019 Presidential Citation’ award, making him the first physician from the MENA region to acquire such a prestigious prize. Abulhasan, an assistant professor of Anesthesiology at Kuwait University, as well as Anesthesia and Critical Care consultant at Ibn Sina Hospital, was honored alongside other 38 health care physicians during NCS annual meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada.
The ‘Presidential Citation’ awards recognize NCS members who made remarkable contributions in neurology through their great efforts, time, energy, and resources, in addition to their non-stop communication with renowned world health care bodies in that regard, Abulhasan stated. NCS strives to discern clinical practice and challenges for neurocritical care patients around the globe, said the Kuwaiti physician. It also identifies best practice strategies and clinical challenges when caring for neurocritical care patients with traumatic brain injury, intracranial hemorrhage, stroke, and central nervous system infections, he added.
NCS examines ongoing clinical trials, controversies in clinical practice and end-of-life decision-making strategies in the care of patients with neurologic injury, said Abulhasan. One of the society’s main objectives is determining opportunities to use neuro-monitoring, informatics, genomics, and quality metrics in the neuroscience ICU to improve quality of care, he noted. NCS also tends to facilitate occupational cooperation through providing a forum for communication, collaboration, and exchange of ideas between physicians and allied health-care professionals within different specialties who care for critically-ill neurological patients, said Abulhasan.
Furthermore, the US-based society aims to foster clinical, experimental, and outcomes research focused on developing innovative and cost-effective medical and surgical interventions for acute neurological disorders, added the Kuwaiti physician. He also mentioned that NCS develops standards for advanced fellowship training, program accreditation, and physician certification in the subspecialty of neurological intensive care. Moreover, the international society endorses advocacy by making the case to patients, the public, policy makers, and other healthcare professionals that complex, life-threatening neurological diseases are best cared for by a multidisciplinary team with special expertise in neurocritical care, he added.
Established in 2002, NCS is a multidisciplinary, international organization with more than 2,700 members from 55 countries. Its main mission is to improve outcomes for patients with life-threatening neurological illnesses. NCS membership is comprised of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and advance practice providers who treat a wide range of neurocritical conditions. — KUNA