ATCUAE launches unique aid for doctors in Motor Sport 18.09.2013: First-of-its-kind translation guide will overcome language barriers between doctors and competitors

First-of-its-kind translation guide will overcome language barriers between doctors and competitors in accidents




photo caption: Dr. Sean Petherbridge, Chief Medical Officer, ATCUAE. The club will launch a pocket book translation aid for doctors working in the field at motor sport events.


Overcoming language barriers between doctors and international competitors involved in motor sport accidents, a unique translation aid will be launched in Abu Dhabi on Friday during a busy weekend for the UAE’s national motor sport authority.


The first copies of a new Medical Translation Guide published by the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) will be issued to delegates from around the world attending an international medical seminar at Yas Marina Circuit.


Supported by the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety and Sustainability, the two-day event is organised by the ATCUAE as part of an ongoing initiative in training, research and education.


Containing a range of simple but vital phrases in eight languages, the first-of-its-kind translation guide will be a priceless tool for doctors who can face major communication problems when called to the scene of motor sport accidents.


“This is a unique pocket book designed to be carried by all doctors working in the field at motor sport events,” said Dr. Sean Petherbridge, the ATCUAE’s Chief Medical Officer.


“It allows them to communicate with injured competitors using a common language, helping to quickly identify and assess injuries. The time saved in such circumstances is very important, and can be crucial.”


The launch of the translation guide, containing key phrases in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish, underlines the lead role being taken by the ATCUAE in motor sport medicine.


On behalf of the FIA, motor sport’s world governing body, the Club’s training and education division, the Motorsport Knowledge Institute, has been delivering training to its counterparts worldwide for the last two years.


An earlier medical seminar held in Dubai in June addressed a range of other challenges faced by medical teams working at motor sport events.


photo caption: Dr. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, ATCUAE President, and FIA Vice President for Sport.



“We have a superb medical team, and the seminar this weekend is another example of our commitment to share knowledge with colleagues from across the region, and many other parts of the world,” said ATCUAE President Dr. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA Vice President for Sport.


Dr. Petherbridge explained: “The aim is to equip Chief Medical Officers with a wide range of specialist skills necessary to deliver medicine in the motor sport environment.” Also addressing the seminar will be his wife, Dr. Shereen Habib, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and other members of the ATCUAE medical team


Attending the seminar are delegates from Bulgaria, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Mozambique, Botswana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Australia and Nepal.


Meanwhile, this weekend is also an important one in the build-up to the fifth edition of the F1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 3 November, with the ATCUAE conducting its first in a series of training sessions for marshals at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday.


More than 300 of the 650 volunteers who will work at the circuit during the F1 weekend will take part in the session which will focus on safety for the Grand Prix and supporting GP2, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, and the GP3 support races.



- Tony Lewis, Total Communications Dubai - also photos