EFFECT OF PRE-HOSPITAL TRAUMA LIFE SUPPORT (PHTLS) COURSE ON KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL

Trauma as one of the most important problems throughout the world is accompanied by high mortality. Every year, a large number of people die as a result of trauma. Pre-hospital emergency personnel are the first caregivers to arrive at the bedside of a trauma victim, and their ability to care for the injured is crucial in saving the lives of many injured. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of pre‐hospital trauma life support (PHTLS) course on knowledge and skill of emergency medical personnel.

The present study is a quasi-experimental study that was conducted in 2018 with the participation of 520 pre-hospital emergency personnel from the East Azerbaijan, Tabriz, Iran. The knowledge and skills of the staff were assessed before and after the course through the objective structured clinical training stations. The data collection tools included a knowledge questionnaire and a basic skills checklist for trauma care, both of which are global standard tools in this field. In the present study, the validity of these instruments has been confirmed by experts in the field of trauma and their reliability was calculated with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.85 and 0.79, respectively. Data analysis was performed with SPSS version 19 software.

The findings of this study showed that the knowledge and skills of the participants before and after the training course were statistically significant (p <0.05). The mean difference and standard deviation of the knowledge and skills scores before and after the course were 11.38 ± 19.46 and 12.60±22.23, respectively. The highest increase in the skills of the participants was in the secondary evaluation of patients with mean difference and standard deviation of 30.47 ± 10.82 (p= 0.03).

Training courses in trauma patient care with new methods, such as objective structured clinical training stations, are effective in increasing the knowledge and skills of pre-hospital emergency personnel.