Application of the World Health Organization's Basic Emergency Care course in Zambia

Broccoli, Morgan C.; Dixon, Julia; Skarpiak, Branden J.; Phiri, Godfrey; Muck, Andrew; Hynes, Emilie J Calvello

doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2020.09.011

Cited by 6 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Similar to other studies, both confidence and knowledge increased with the number of training courses that students had previously taken [1,2]. This suggests that, similar to other settings [6,19,20], implementation of the BEC at the medical school level could increase the knowledge and confidence of medical students who will go on to provide emergency medical care to the vulnerable, underserved, often rural populations during their year of social service [6,19,20].…”

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 75%

“…In addition, even lower response rates amongst physicians have also been noted in LMICs consistent with the response rate in the study [16][17][18]. However, research has suggested that nonresponse bias is less of a concern amongst the physician population [15,[19][20][21]. In addition, there were no statistical differences in patient variables across participants removed for incomplete survey and those analyzed in the final cohort.…”

Section: Limitationssupporting

confidence: 70%

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Confidence and knowledge in emergency management among medical students across Colombia: A role for the WHO basic emergency care course

et al. 2022

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Introduction Globally, medical students have demonstrated knowledge gaps in emergency care and acute stabilization. In Colombia, new graduates provide care for vulnerable populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course trains frontline providers with limited resources in the management of acute illness and injury. While this course may serve medical students as adjunct to current curriculum, its utility in this learner group has not been investigated. This study performs a baseline assessment of knowledge and confidence in emergency management taught in the BEC amongst medical students in Colombia. Methods A validated, cross-sectional survey assessing knowledge and confidence of emergency care congruent with BEC content was electronically administered to graduating medical students across Colombia. Knowledge was evaluated via 15 multiple choice questions and confidence via 13 questions using 100 mm visual analog scales. Mean knowledge and confidence scores were compared across demographics, geography and prior training using Chi-Squared or one-way ANOVA analyses. Results Data were gathered from 468 graduating medical students at 36 institutions. The mean knowledge score was 59.9% ± 23% (95% CI 57.8–62.0%); the mean confidence score was 59.6 mm ±16.7 mm (95% CI 58.1–61.2). Increasing knowledge and confidence scores were associated with prior completion of emergency management training courses (p<0.0001). Conclusion Knowledge and confidence levels of emergency care management for graduating medical students across Colombia demonstrated room for additional, specialized training. Higher scores were seen in groups that had completed emergency care courses. Implementation of the BEC as an adjunct to current curriculum may serve a valuable addition.

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Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Limitationssupporting

confidence: 70%

Confidence and knowledge in emergency management among medical students across Colombia: A role for the WHO basic emergency care course

et al. 2022

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“…This prospective cohort study assessing the impact of the BEC course at two hospitals in Sierra Leone early in the COVID-19 outbreak found improvements from baseline in participant knowledge and confidence in emergency and critical care skills immediately post-course and at six months, demonstrating the durability of the training’s impact. Notably, improvements in immediate post-course knowledge were similar in magnitude to prior BEC assessments [ 10 – 12 ] despite broadening inclusion criteria to staff from general medical wards and intensive care units, suggesting a role for this course beyond the emergency unit. To our knowledge, this is only the second study to conduct long-term follow-up of BEC training [ 21 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…For each skill, we reported the number and proportion of participants responding “very comfortable”. This outcome was selected for consistency with prior studies [ 10 , 12 , 20 ]. For the COVID-19 assessment, a group of content experts developed and refined ten questions on experience and comfort treating COVID-19.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) and International Committee of the Red Cross’s Basic Emergency Care Course (BEC) is an open-access five-day course for front-line emergency care providers in resource-limited settings [ 8 ] that has been implemented in multiple countries including Ethiopia [ 9 ], Zambia [ 10 ], Uganda [ 11 ], Tanzania [ 11 ], and Nigeria [ 12 ]. The BEC employs lectures and hands-on skill-based exercises to train providers in the assessment and management of emergency conditions [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Applying the WHO-ICRC BEC course to train emergency and inpatient healthcare workers in Sierra Leone early in the COVID-19 outbreak

Sonenthal

Kachimanga

Komba

et al. 2022

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Treating critical illness in resource-limited settings during disease outbreaks is feasible and can save lives. Lack of trained healthcare workers is a major barrier to COVID-19 response. There is an urgent need to train healthcare workers to manage COVID-19. The World Health Organization and International Committee of the Red Cross’s Basic Emergency Care course could provide a framework to cross-train personnel for COVID-19 care while strengthening essential health services. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study evaluating the Basic Emergency Care course for healthcare workers from emergency and inpatient units at two hospitals in Sierra Leone, a low-income country in West Africa. Baseline, post-course, and six month assessments of knowledge and confidence were completed. Questions on COVID-19 were added at six months. We compared change from baseline in knowledge scores and proportions of participants “very comfortable” with course skills using paired Student’s t-tests and McNemar’s exact tests, respectively. Results We enrolled 32 participants of whom 31 completed pre- and post-course assessments. Six month knowledge and confidence assessments were completed by 15 and 20 participants, respectively. Mean knowledge score post-course was 85% (95% CI: 82% to 88%), which was increased from baseline (53%, 48% to 57%, p-value < 0.001). There was sustained improvement from baseline at six months (73%, 67% to 80%, p-value 0.001). The percentage of participants who were “very comfortable” performing skills increased from baseline for 27 of 34 skills post-training and 13 skills at six months. Half of respondents strongly agreed the course improved ability to manage COVID-19. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of the Basic Emergency Care course to train emergency and inpatient healthcare workers with lasting impact. The timing of the study, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, provided an opportunity to illustrate the strategic overlap between building human resource capacity for long-term health systems strengthening and COVID-19. Future efforts should focus on integration with national training curricula and training of the trainers for broader dissemination and implementation at scale.

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Introduction of WHO BEC course for nurses at Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania

Avrith,

Suh,

Sunderwirth

et al. 2023

African Journal of Emergency Medicine

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Application of the World Health Organization's Basic Emergency Care course in Zambia

Cited by 6 publications

References 3 publications

Confidence and knowledge in emergency management among medical students across Colombia: A role for the WHO basic emergency care course

Confidence and knowledge in emergency management among medical students across Colombia: A role for the WHO basic emergency care course

Applying the WHO-ICRC BEC course to train emergency and inpatient healthcare workers in Sierra Leone early in the COVID-19 outbreak

Introduction of WHO BEC course for nurses at Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania

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