Nursing Professional Day

By Sgt. Thomas CroughOctober 25, 2017

Nursing Professional Day
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Soldiers listen to a seminar during Nursing Professional Day, Oct. 10, 2017 at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Nursing Professional Day, hosted by United States Military Hospital - Kuwait, is a clinical education day for nurses and medics open to all military ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Nursing Professional Day
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Captain Andrew Jaramillo, 86th Combat Support Hospital, poses with staff nurses from the Al Seef Hospital, Kuwait, during Nursing Professional Day, Oct. 10, 2017, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Nursing Professional Day, hosted by United States Military Hos... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - United States Military Hospital - Kuwait hosted a clinical education day for nurses and medics at Camp Arifjan, Oct. 10, 2017. The event was open to all military branches as well as local civilian medical professionals and drew a crowd of over 100 medical personnel.

"What you are seeing today was born out of a partnership with host nation medical facilities and U.S. Military Hospital - Kuwait. What we are hoping to do is to arm all the nurses and medics that attend with more information about healthcare. This way when they go back out into the healthcare battlefield they are better prepared," said Lt. Colonel Michael Wissemann, Deputy Commander and Chief Nursing Officer of USMHK.

The day's events included lectures about seven different clinical issues and a tour of USMHK.

"Having joint-branch and joint-nation training like this is crucial for developing good relationships and it's also crucial that we know each other's systems and how to provide care to the patients that we are seeing," said Senior Airman Shelbi Duncan, 386th Expeditionary Medical Group, Ali al Salem, Kuwait.

"It's really beneficial," said Dioni Viloria, nursing supervisor, Al Seef Hospital, Kuwait. "These lectures are really helpful because, as a nursing supervisor, I am also working in clinical education. These lectures really help my future and my career to also teach others and the lectures were helpful for the situations; stroke, hypertension are really prevalent in the population."

Viloria, a native of the Philipines, came to Kuwait as a nurse through a medical staffing agency and hopes to one day make his way to the United States.

"Partnering with the host nation facilities allows USMHK the opportunity to get care for their Soldiers downtown or any soldier that comes through the door, especially if we need an MRI or some sort of surgical capability that we may not have at USMHK," said Wissemann. "We have about five different facilities we partner with on the economy and bringing them in builds those host-nation relationships so that when we need them we can get care for our Soldiers."

"This course is important just to expand our knowledge and refresh previous knowledge obtained," said Duncan. "I find it really interesting because I am a medical technician and this is somewhat of a higher level than I am used to learning things. So I am definitely expanding my understanding and knowledge and then a lot of things that I'll probably go back and reference and study some more on my own."

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