Evaluation of change in emergency care knowledge and skills among front-line healthcare providers in Ukraine with the Basic Emergency Care course: a pretest/post-test study

Abstract

ObjectiveEvaluate the change in participant emergency care knowledge and skill confidence after implementation of the WHO-International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course.DesignPretest/post-test quasi-experimental study.SettingMechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine.ParticipantsSeventy-nine participants engaged in the course, of whom 50 (63.3%) completed all assessment tools. The course was open to healthcare providers of any level who assess and treat emergency conditions as part of their practice. The most common participant profession was resident physician (24%), followed by health educator (18%) and prehospital provider (14%).InterventionsThe 5-day WHO-ICRC BEC course.Primary and secondary outcome measuresChange in pre-course and post-course knowledge and skill confidence assessments. Open-ended written feedback was collected upon course completion and analysed for common themes.ResultsParticipant knowledge assessment scores improved from 19 (IQR 15–20) to 22 (IQR 19–23) on a 25-point scale (p<0.001). Participant skill confidence self-assessment scores improved from 2.5 (IQR 2.1–2.8) to 2.9 (IQR 2.5–3.3) on a 4-point scale (p<0.001). The most common positive feedback themes were high-quality teaching and useful skill sessions. The most common constructive feedback themes were translation challenges and request for additional skill session time.ConclusionsThis first implementation of the WHO-ICRC BEC course for front-line healthcare providers in Ukraine was successful and well received by participants. This is also the first report of a BEC implementation outside of Africa and suggests that the course is also effective in the European context, particularly in humanitarian crisis and conflict settings. Future research should evaluate long-term knowledge retention and the impact on patient outcomes. Further iterations should emphasise local language translation and consider expanding clinical skills sessions.

Ukraine Trauma Project: the feasibility of introducing advanced trauma-care skills to frontline emergency medical services responders

“…Limited data have emerged from the war in Ukraine on the roles and effects of early care trauma systems. Our results align with those of Kivlehan et al who reported significant improvements in knowledge and confidence among Ukrainian participants in a 5-day WHO-ICRC Basic Emergency Care course carried out in 2022 13…”

“…Our results align with those of Kivlehan et al who reported significant improvements in knowledge and confidence among Ukrainian participants in a 5-day WHO-ICRC Basic Emergency Care course carried out in 2022. 13 Epstein et al compared some of the lessons learnt from the US 'Global War on Terror' to the work of their group in supporting surgical care services in Ukraine. 14 Riley has examined the potential lessons from the war for largescale NATO led medical operations 15 and Zasiekina has explored the impact of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at community level.…”

Global Emergency Medicine: A Scoping Review of the Literature from 2022

“…For the first time, the armed conflict in Ukraine generated a paper included in the GEMLR. Kivlehan et al 68 . implemented the World Health Organization Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course for the first time in a European context and during an active humanitarian conflict and demonstrated improvement in emergency care knowledge and skill performance.…”

Implementation and outcomes of a comprehensive emergency care curriculum at a low-resource referral hospital in Liberia: A novel approach to application of the WHO Basic Emergency Care toolkit

“…In addition to the pilot BEC programs in Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda, additional iterations have been implemented in emergency facilities in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, and Kiribati and adapted for each clinical context [30][31][32][33]. In these cases, knowledge acquisition was similarly measured by comparing pre-and post-course assessments.…”