Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda
Background Uganda lacks formal emergency care training programs to address its high burden of acute illness and injury. The Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH) rolled out the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course, the first openaccess short course to provide comprehens...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Division of Emergency Medicine
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867614485121859584 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Friedman, Alexandra |
| author2 | Wallis, Lee |
| author_browse | Friedman, Alexandra Wallis, Lee |
| author_facet | Wallis, Lee Friedman, Alexandra |
| author_sort | Friedman, Alexandra |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Background
Uganda lacks formal emergency care training programs to address its high burden of acute illness and injury. The Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH) rolled out the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course, the first openaccess short course to provide comprehensive basic emergency training for health workers in low-resource settings. The BEC and its new online cases both require further evaluation.
Aim and Objectives
The study aimed to assess the BEC course and online cases’ impact with the following objectives: 1. Determine participants’ knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy in emergency care. 2. Evaluate BEC participants’ perceptions of the course and online cases. 3. Assess the online cases’ impact on participants’ knowledge and self-efficacy in emergency care.
Methods
Mixed methods design explored the BEC’s impact. MCQs and Likert scales assessed knowledge and self-efficacy, respectively, among 137 participants pre-BEC, post-BEC and six-months post-BEC using mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA). FGDs assessed perceptions of the course and online cases post-BEC and six-months postBEC among 74 participants using thematic content analysis.
Results
Participants gained and maintained significant increases in MCQ averages and Likert scores. The pre-course cases group scored significantly higher on the pre-test MCQ than controls (p=0.004) and found cases most useful pre-BEC. Nurses experienced more significant initial gains and long-term decays in MCQ and self-rated knowledge than doctors (p=0.009, p< 0.05). Providers valued the ABCDE approach and reported improved emergency care management post-BEC. Resource constraints, untrained colleagues and knowledge decay limited the course’s utility.
Conclusions
Basic emergency care courses for low-resource settings can increase frontline providers’ long-term knowledge and self-efficacy in emergency care. Nurses experience greater initial gains and long-term losses in knowledge than doctors. Online adjuncts can enhance health professional education in LMICs. Future efforts should focus on increasing trainings and determining the need for re-training. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31832 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:52:47.409Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Division of Emergency Medicine |
| publisherStr | Division of Emergency Medicine |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31832 Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda Friedman, Alexandra Wallis, Lee Tenner, Andrea Emergency Medicine Background Uganda lacks formal emergency care training programs to address its high burden of acute illness and injury. The Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH) rolled out the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course, the first openaccess short course to provide comprehensive basic emergency training for health workers in low-resource settings. The BEC and its new online cases both require further evaluation. Aim and Objectives The study aimed to assess the BEC course and online cases’ impact with the following objectives: 1. Determine participants’ knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy in emergency care. 2. Evaluate BEC participants’ perceptions of the course and online cases. 3. Assess the online cases’ impact on participants’ knowledge and self-efficacy in emergency care. Methods Mixed methods design explored the BEC’s impact. MCQs and Likert scales assessed knowledge and self-efficacy, respectively, among 137 participants pre-BEC, post-BEC and six-months post-BEC using mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA). FGDs assessed perceptions of the course and online cases post-BEC and six-months postBEC among 74 participants using thematic content analysis. Results Participants gained and maintained significant increases in MCQ averages and Likert scores. The pre-course cases group scored significantly higher on the pre-test MCQ than controls (p=0.004) and found cases most useful pre-BEC. Nurses experienced more significant initial gains and long-term decays in MCQ and self-rated knowledge than doctors (p=0.009, p< 0.05). Providers valued the ABCDE approach and reported improved emergency care management post-BEC. Resource constraints, untrained colleagues and knowledge decay limited the course’s utility. Conclusions Basic emergency care courses for low-resource settings can increase frontline providers’ long-term knowledge and self-efficacy in emergency care. Nurses experience greater initial gains and long-term losses in knowledge than doctors. Online adjuncts can enhance health professional education in LMICs. Future efforts should focus on increasing trainings and determining the need for re-training. 2020-05-08T07:14:08Z 2020-05-08T07:14:08Z 2019 2020-05-06T01:31:54Z Master Thesis Masters MSc https://hdl.handle.net/11427/31832 eng application/pdf Division of Emergency Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences |
| spellingShingle | Emergency Medicine Friedman, Alexandra Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda |
| title_full | Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda |
| title_short | Evaluation of the World Health Organization’s basic emergency care course and online cases in Uganda |
| title_sort | evaluation of the world health organization s basic emergency care course and online cases in uganda |
| topic | Emergency Medicine |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/11427/31832 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT friedmanalexandra evaluationoftheworldhealthorganizationsbasicemergencycarecourseandonlinecasesinuganda |