KING FAHD
Military Medical Complex
Dhahran

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Introduction

The Ministry of Defence and Aviation (MODA), Saudi Arabian Armed Forces Medical Services Department (SAAFMSD), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has established the King Fahd Military Medical Complex (KFMMC) referred to as the Programme for the purpose of operating the Armed Forces Hospital in Dhahran and the Military Medical Academy. The programme provides health care for the Armed Forces personnel, their dependents and other eligible citizens of the Kingdom, and provides training in health sciences for up to three hundred students.

A Programme Director appointed by SAAFMSD is responsible for the day to day operation and management of the complex. To assist the Programme Director MODA retains a Management Contractor who carries out functions relating to the quality of patient care, medical education, recruitment, supplies, finance and consultative services.

The Armed Forces Hospital received its first patients in October 1987 (Safar 1408) and is being opened in stages. The total capacity is for three hundred and twenty eight beds. As well as secondary and tertiary care services, the Armed Forces Hospital provides Accident and Emergency facilities and comprehensive Primary and Speciality health care clinics.
Medical specialities provided by the Armed Forces Hospital include Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurology, Urology, Opthalmogy, Psychiatry, Obstetrics/Gynaecology, Pediatrics, Neonathology, Pulmonology, Dermatology, Dialysis, ENT, Plastic Surgery, Burns, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Haematology, Histopathy, Diagnostic Radiology, Intensive Care, Orthopaedics, Gastroenterology and Dentistry.

Layout & Design

In its entirety, the complex covers an area of more than 500,00 square metres. From a global point of view, the complex has not only been designed and planned in accordance with medical, scientific and technical needs, it simultaneously reflects many functional considerations which have had an impact on the way in which spaces are utilised, on the way in which residential and technical buildings were segregated from patient areas, on the way in which climatic conditions such as humidity, temperature and prevalent wind directions were studied to achieve total compatibility with nature in conformance with Islamic building arts and traditions.

The hospital was designed to constitute the focal point of the entire complex.

The interior layout was chosen to shorten the distances involved in the transportation of patients and equipment. Functional adjacency was enhanced by optimising the horizontal/vertical distance ratio in the multiple-level building.

The provision of automated horizontal and vertical transportation systems for documents (reports, etc) materials and instruments reduces the frequency of personnel movements. This improves personnel availability and also enhances the hospitals ability to maintain a consistently high level of service quality. The layout further separates patient, personnel, and service traffic from maintenance traffic: this measure improves the survey ability of both inpatient and outpatient clinic areas. All environmentally sensitive zones such as operating theatres, dermatological sections etc. are also isolated from patient and visitor traffic areas. The hospital is composed of five floors covering an area of approximately 42,000 square metres. The ground floor accommodates specialised medical departments such as the radiology, physiotherapy sections etc.

A major portion of the ground floor is occupied by the outpatient clinics which are in the proximity of the specialised medical faculties and technical support areas for maximised responsiveness to patient needs and to assure a high level of effectiveness in equipment usage. Several service sections such as the central kitchen, the laundry and the pathology department are also located on this floor. The next floor comprises the intensive care, haemodialsis and burns treatment sections as well as six main operating theatres which are equipped with closed circuit television systems for training purposes. The upper floors are the patient wards. Each patient room has only one or two beds and a private toilet. The rooms are distributed throughout three wings which are arranged perpendicular to one another. The wings merge in a centre hall where services, waiting areas and information desks are located.

Casualty

The Casualty Department is located adjacent to the major diagnostic and treatment areas of the hospital. Specially trained medical, nursing and ambulance staff provide full service emergency care twenty fours hours per day. The Casualty Department has technologically advanced equipment to support its activities. A comprehensive air and ground transportation system is provided for patient transfer to and from the facility.

Registration and Admissions

The central registration and admission department validates a patient's eligibility for either admission to the hospital or registration as an out-patient. It is located on the ground floor of the hospital, central to the Outpatient and Casualty areas.

Clinics

The Primary Care Clinics are the first line of health care available within the community. The department provides primary helth care and follow up management with or without referral to speciality physicians and/or other support services. The out-Patient Services which include Primary Care, Speciality Clinics and the Dental Clinic are located on the ground floor of the hospital with easy access to paramedical facilities.

The Speciality Clinic Department provides facilities for multidisciplinary medical specialities on a scheduled programme with all patients having been referred by Primary Care Physicians or follow-up appointments.

Intensive Care

The ten bed Intensive Care Unit offers medical and surgical services to patients of all ages and is located on the first floor of the hospital, near the operating theatres. The patient care stations are arranged so that the patients can be observed by the staff. Each station is fully equipped with a self sufficient monitoring system. The Chief of Anaesthesiology is the Director of Patient Care in this unit.

Operating Theatres

The eight operating theatres are located on the first floor of the hospital sharing a common corridor with speciality units, recovery room, central sterile supply, intensive care and labour and delivery. Each theatre has an individualised electronically controlled environment. A wide range of equipment, instruments and supplies enhances the scope of surgical services.

Clinics

The Dental and Ophthalmology Clinics are located on the ground floor of the hospital. The Dental Department has eleven fully equipped treatment rooms, a panorex room and a laboratory which has the capability to produce the full range of services required in dentistry.

Adult Medical/Surgical Units

The male and female units are located on the second and third floor of the hospital. Each thirty-four bed unit includes one-bed and two bed rooms, single bed isolation room and VIP suites. Each patient room has a shower and toilet. The nursing station and service facilities are located in the centre of the unit.

Maternal/Child Services

Maternal/Child Services include Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Neonatology and Paediatrics.

The Labour and Delivery Unit which is located on the first floor of the hospital is specially equipped to care for patients during the intrapartum period. The Obstetrical Consultants together with nurse midwives provide comprehensive services. The facility extends the privilege for independent deliveries to the midwife.

The thirty-four bed Obstetrics/Gynaecology Unit is loated on the foruth floor of the hospital. Its functions include the care of antenatal, postnatal and gynaecological patients.

The newborn nursery adjacent to the Obstetrics/ Gynaecology unit provides care for up to twenty healthy infants. Adult and infant isolation facilities are an integral art of the department.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is located on the fourth floor of the hospital. The presence of technology advanced equipment and highly specialised staff facilitates the provision of comprehensive intensive care for critically ill neonates. Utilising an open design and private cubicles, the area can accommodate ten neonates.

The seventeen bed Paediatric Unit, which is also located on the forth floor, provides medical and surgical care for young patients ranging in age from birth to twelve years.

Haemodialysis

The Haemodialysis Unit is located on the first floor of the hospital adjacent to other special care areas. There are six dialysis stations in an open plan area, and two isolation cubicles. Two portable dialysis machines are available for patient treatment elsewhere in the facility. Haemodialysis and dialysis related treatments are available for chronic and acute renal failure.

Lithotripsy

The Lithotripsy Unit is located on the third floor of the hospital. The unit is divided into separate areas for patient preparation, extra corporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) treatments and a variety of urological diagnostic procedures. The Lithotripser is a second generation machine with radiological capability which, by ultrasound, shatters kidney stones.

Laboratory

The Laboratory services include bacteriology, blood bank, chemistry, haematology, histopathology, immunology, mycobacteriology, mycology, parasitology, phlebotomy, serology and urinalysis. The Laboratory facilities include routin equipment as well as specialised instruments such as the research microscope ans the ACTEC, RIA TDX and serum electrophoresis equipment.

Radiology

The Radiology Department, which is situated on the ground floor of the hospital is a large diagnostic imaging department with facilities for General Radiography, CT Scn, Nuclear Medicine and Ultrasound. A wide variety of imaging procedures are carried out within this department. An MRI unit is to be completed in 1992.

Pharmacy

The Pharmacy provides a mobile decentralised unit, dose drug delivery system, computer assisted IV additive and TPN programmes, computerised inventory control and out-patient dispensing. These services are provided with the highest quality consistent with accepted ethical, legal and professional standards.

Physiotherapy

The Physiotherapy Department is situated on the ground floor in the Outpatient area. It is divided into male and female sides, with each having Electrotherapy, Hydrotherapy and gymnasium areas. The department covers both in and out patients with a varied care load typical of an acute care facility.

Medical Library

The medical Library is continually updated to satisfy the informational, educational and research needs of the hospital staff. The library contains approximately two hundred current journals related to different disciplines of health care. All materials are displayed for easy access.

Medical Records

The Medical Records department maintains and evaluates health records utilising joint commission and the Armed Forces Medical Service standards of Saudi Arabia (AFMSD). The department works actively with the medical staff and ancillary departments to ensure that these standards are met.

There is an ongoing Quality Assurance programme in the department with special emphasis on documentation with the intent of providing a more dynamic quality of care framework.

Engineering Support Services Area

A large well trained work force operates the complex just like an independent township and the engineering and maintenance facilities can upply all its daily needs of water, air conditioning, electricity and communications.

This area, among other facilities, included subterranean reservoirs for storing different grades of water: slat water for desalination, purified water for drinking and related water for irrigation. There are also four utility plants. One is for water desalination with a daily capacity exceeding 2000 cubic metres. The second pumping station distributes water to all parts of he complex. The third handles raw water for irrigation purposes. The fourth plant is used for power generation - it has a capacity of 40 megawatts.

The power plant can generate sufficient electricity to run the entire complex on a twenty four hour basis, if necessary. Water treatment facilities provide different grades of water for various purposes such as irrigation, haemodialysis and drinking.

The objective of the centralised support services concept is to reduce maintenance costs while improving the availability and dependability of the complex infrastructure.

The Academy

The Military Academy started accepting students in September 1988 (Safr 1409). The initial intake was fifty students and it is anticipated that the number of students will increase to a projected capacity of 300 full time undergraduate students in 1992. Following an introductory course in English language, the courses to be offered by the Academy will initially include training for: Nursing, Medical Laboratory Technician, Radiology Technician, Dental Hygienist, Respiratory Therapist, Physical Therapist, and Medical Records Technician.

Located almost at the centre of the complex, the academy covers and area of approximately eleven thousand square metres.

The building consists of three storeys. The ground floor comprises of two auditoria, equipped to the highest standards, which may be used for both lectures and other cultural activities, the English Language department complete with classrooms and language laboratories, a well-stocked library and the main administrative offices.

On the first floor, there is a multi-media section, capable not only of studio production and relay of educational TV programmes throughout the complex, but also of producing a wide range of audiovisual materials. The remainder of the floor consists of , mainly, additional classrooms and language laboratory space.

The mathematics, science, medical and technical services areas are all located on the second floor. In addition to laboratory, workshop and storage space, there are specialist Dental and operating theatre facilities.

Accommodation

An extensive housing quarter accommodates the employees who work within the complex and in neighbouring facilities of the Eastern Province. The quarter is composed of fifty-one residential buildings.

The individual buildings vary in height between two and six floors: they are clustered fairly close together for protection against winds and occasional sandstorms, yet leave nothing to be desired in terms of privacy and a peaceful atmosphere.

Altogether, the housing quarter offers private accommodation in approximately 1300 apartments. The spacious bachelor studios have a large living/bedroom area, a kitchen and a bathroom. There are two type of family apartments. The first type is designed for families without children. It consists of two bedrooms and one living/dinning room in addition to a bathroom and a kitchen. The second type, for families with children, features a dining room, a living room, and three bedrooms as well as three bathrooms and a guest room.

Each apartment is fully appointed with durable, high quality furniture.

Child Care Centre

The Child Care Centre is located in the Meceda compound which is situated next to the complex. The centre provides a day care facility for the children of employees who are eligible for the service.

Recreation

The Recreation Centre is situated near the accommodation and provides various leisure activities for the employees of the complex.

The facility includes a restaurant snack bar, bowling alley, mini gymnasium, bachelor and family swimming pools, sauna, travel agent, supermarket, hairdressing salon and a three hundred seat auditorium.

The centre caters for a wide variety of recreational activities and excursions to places of interest are offered periodically.

Catering

A wide range of catering services for patients and staff are provided. The main staff cafeteria is located on the ground floor of the Hospital. A coffee shop is situated off the lobby of the hospital and the Oasis restaurant is located within the Recreation Centre. All facilities provide a comprehensive service and cater for a wide variety of ethnic tastes.

The Eastern Province

The two leading commercial centres in the Eastern Province - Al-Khobar and Dammam, are located close by.

Al-Khobar

Situated approximately twenty- five kilometres from the complex, Al Khobar has numerous western style shops which offer a wide variety of goods an services.

Dammam

The administrative centre of the Province is situated approximately twenty kilometres north of Al Khobar and approximately twenty kms. North east of the complex. Many of the old traditional souqs (market places) are located in this area.

Causeway

The off shore island of Bahrain is linked to the Saudi mainland at Al Khobar by the Causeway, a spectacular feat of engineering. Bahrain is a popular weekend destination for many expatriates.

Latest Vacancies
November 2008

Salaries quoted in SR per month
Current rate: £ 1 = SR5.9 tax-free

NURSING
Director of Nursing
Practical Nurse Instructor
Head Nurse, OR
Head Nurse, Casualty
RN, SCBU
RN, CCU
RN, NICU
RN, CICU
Midwives
RN, Burns Unit

MILITARY ACADEMY POSTS
Science Instructors SR 10,000
TEFL Instructors SR 10,000
(see our teaching page)

Please submit resumes and full back-up documents to

Mr Steve McAllister
Network Overseas
34 Mortimer Street
London W1W 7JS
United Kingdom

Fax: +44 (0)20 7580 6242

or as an attachment to
e-mail: medical@network.cc

For further details, please contact Steve McAllister
at Network Overseas on +44 (0)20 7580 5151

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