Emergency Medicine: A Different Kind of Bootcamp

Jerusalem’s historic YMCA — the first built outside of the United States — is one of the city’s sport centers that brings together children and adults from varied ethnic neighborhoods. But instead of basketball, aerobics and swimming, the YMCA was dominated recently by a two-day intensive bootcamp on emergency medicine for doctors, nurses and residents, under the tutelage of the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO).

Leading the initiative was Dr. Ahmad Nama, director of emergency medicine at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. In addition to training in critical lifesaving procedures, healthcare workers participated in workshops on leadership and decision-making, and attended lectures by El Al Captain Zachi Laor and Dr. Jacob (Koby) Assaf, former head of emergency medicine at Hadassah Ein Kerem.

"After two days of high-level training, we close a year of tremendous work at Hadassah Ein Kerem’s ER and look ahead to another year of excellence in emergency medicine," Dr. Nama  said at the closing of the bootcamp.

Outreach to the community has long been a goal of Dr. Nama’s. He was born in Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus and has worked in emergency medicine at Hadassah Ein Kerem since 2010. He earned his medical degree at the University of Szeged in Hungary and completed an Emergency Medicine fellowship at the Royal Melbourne Hospital & NorthWestern Mental Health in Australia.

“I’m moved most by bringing people from different fields and backgrounds together and helping them supplement their education and catalyze their professional advancement,” he said.

He is the founder of AEMIS, Advanced Emergency Medicine Interventional Skills for Healthcare Professionals, an international course held in Prague in conjunction with the Institute of Anatomy at Prague’s Charles University. The course provides healthcare professionals with fundamental skills in emergency and interventional procedures.

During the war, participants from 16 countries took part in the course. The most recent course was held in Puducherry, India, as part of the World Congress of Emergency Medicine Educators 2025 in September.

This past November, Dr. Nama organized and chaired JEMAC , Jerusalem Emergency Medicine Acute Care Conference, with over 400 emergency medicine professionals participating. The conference featured speakers from HMO’s two hospitals and from four other countries, including the US, Hong Kong and Australia. It focused on subjects such as updates in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Interventions in Traumatic Cardiac Arrest. The conference also offered two workshops: Point-of-Care Ultrasound and Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (ECPR).

Both AEMIS and JEMAC received CME accreditation.