Dr. ABDULLAH ALSHIMEMERI is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.  He received MBChB from King Abdulaziz university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  then completed his M.D., residency and fellowship at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and holds European diploma in intensive care medicine (EDIC). Currently He is the President of Saudi Critical Care Society & Dean, Postgraduate Education and Academic Affairs at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His research interests include: (1) issues related to ICU outcomes and resource utilization, (2) ICU organization, (3) ICU scoring systems, (4) end-of-life care, and (5) Nutrition Management in the ICU.

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Dr. Abdullah Al-Shimemeri had a major impact on the organization and provision of
clinical services of the Intensive Care in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has been one of the strong proponents of in-house Consultant coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He has supported this type of coverage since 1995 when he was the Acting Chairman of the department. A study from our ICU demonstrated that this novel approach improved the outcome of critically ill patients especially those admitted over the weekends and during nights. Also from the organizational standpoint, Dr. Shimemeri is the strong supporter of having ICU outreach coverage for patients who need intensive care support in other areas of the hospital. This approach again has reflected positively on patients' outcome. He has been a firm supporter of the intra-departmental and inter-departmental multidisciplinary collaboration leading to better interaction among the medical-nursing-respiratory therapy members of the team, as well as better interaction with other services. This has reflected very positively on the level of quality of care and has enhanced the image and reputation of the department.

Dr. AlShimemeri has also been directly involved in issues related to ICU outcomes and resource utilization. To measure the quality of care, he supported having a comprehensive ICU database. The current King Fahad National Guard Hospital ICU database has recorded all ICU admissions to be the largest and probably the only
ICU database in the Middle East. The database has been the basis for all administrative reports and has provided evidence-based data about the performance of the Intensive Care Unit. Dr. Shimemeri also proposed the opening an 8-bed Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU), which helped substantially in improving the capacity of the ICU and in accommodating the post-operative patients.

Professionally, Dr. AlShimemeri has also been very active in developing programs to improve critical care within the hospital and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Within the hospital, he led the development of the Critical Care Fellowship Program, which was the first accredited program by the Saudi Council for Health Specialties. He also directed the development of a unique program entitled "Advance Critical Care Course" for physicians in the Ministry of Health who come for three months training in the Intensive Care Unit to improve their skills and level of care. This program, which was approved by the Ministry of Health two years ago has been a great success.

Under the leadership of Dr. Shimemeri, the department had undergone great academic growth. The First International Symposium in Critical Care Medicine was conducted on 6-10 March 2005 and involved three days state-of-the-art scientific presentations and additional two days of Post Graduate Courses. The symposium attracted large number of participants, which we believed would still grow substantially in the coming years. He has also been elected as the Chairman of the Riyadh ICU Club for the last 6 years. Because of his role model and ability to be a successful team player, the number of attendees has increased substantially with a parallel improvement in the quality of the presentations. He has participated in organizing, directing or presenting in a large number of courses and symposia nationally and internationally. In particular, he directed the establishment of the Fundamental of Critical Care Support Course and Fundamental of Disaster Management Course, Mechanical Ventilation Course, and Percutaneous Tracheostomy Course. In addition, he has participated in other important courses in the hospital including Evidence-Based Medicine and Introduction to Clinical Research. He has been appointed as an Assistant Professor for the newly established King Saud Medical School. He has participated in lectures and educational programs for residents in multiple departments including ICU, Surgery,
Medicine, and ER.

Dr. AlShimemeri has been a leader in enhancing research activities in the department. Under his Chairmanship, the number of abstracts and publications has grown substantially. Some of the research presented has been published in highly reputed medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Critical Care Forum, American Journal of the Infection Control and others. In addition, he has driven the department to be active internationally and has become part of several multi-center international controlled trials. Among which, is the current study entitled "Lung Open Ventilation Study". The primary center is the McMaster University in Canada.
Two grants from King Abdulaziz Medical City for Science and Technology have been received by members of the department and this is due to his continuing support for the department's research activity.

Dr. AlShimemeri has also been the member of numerous administrative activities in the hospital involving improvement of quality in the hospital such as Patient Safety Committee, Critical Care Committee, Intermediate Care Taskforce Committee, Health Education Committee, just to name a few. He is also involved in national committees such as the ICU Committee of Ministry of Health, Riyadh ICU Club, and Saudi Council for Health Specialties, etc. He has also participated in many national and international education activities related to Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine. One of the reasons why he is successful is his ability to be a team leader. With his strong but decent personality, he has been able to make a strong team of Intensivists within the department. The same applied for his interaction on the national level. This is evidenced in the popular Riyadh ICU Club and in other professional activities. He has a strong vision for Critical Care Medicine in the Kingdom and in the region.

This is manifested in many proposals and projects including the advance critical care course and the proposal for Critical Care Fellowship for the Saudi Council for Health Specialties and for his recent proposal for the Saudi Society of Critical Care Medicine. Because of his many achievements, he has been promoted to be the Dean of Post Graduate Education and Academic Affairs and he is playing a major role in the institution, which will have a major reflection on patient care and on health care reputation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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