OUTCOME OF ‘BASIC LIFE SUPPORT TRAINING’ IN A BUSY DISTRICT GENERAL HOSPITAL

Authors

  • Ambreen Anwer
  • Wasim Ahmad Malik
  • Ammanat Khan

Abstract

Background: In view of the recently increasing terrorist attacks, hospitals have to devote anincreased attention to Disaster Management. An effective way to do this is by preparing disasterplans and training ‘hospital staff response team’. Most of the District General Hospitals (DGH) act asfirst point of contact in emergency. Our practical experience revealed that if the staff is not trainedwell for an organised and structured response, rather than help they can become an unnecessaryhindrance. In the current scenario we felt a dire need to train as many staff members as possible inBasic life support (BLS). The objective was to train as well as assess the feasibility of training theseskills to a mixed ability group of health professionals in a busy DGH. Methods: Twelve trainingsessions of 1 hour/week were planned. Twenty-nine candidates with mixed ability health workers (5Medical Officers, 10 Nurses, 9 Nursing Assistants, 2 LHV, 3 Ayahs) were enrolled. Each sessionwas planned as initial 20 min lecture presentation followed by practical demonstration and 30minutes hands on training with final 10 minutes for feedback. Final Assessment was performed byan independent assessor. Post training feedback was acquired through an open ended questionnaire.Results: The outcome of training showed 24 participants fully trained and successful in first attempt.There were total 5 drop-outs during the training program. Conclusion: It is feasible to run thisprogram regularly in a District General Hospital with few adjustments in the administrativearrangements. Results of training can be much more improved if institutional commitment is linkedto such training pursuits and ‘protected teaching time’ is ensured.Keywords: Basic Life Support, Life Support Courses, Emergency Medicine, Disaster management

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Published

2010-06-01