African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence
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Sepsis and septic shock are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Intensive care Units (ICUs) in low and middle-income countries. However, little is known about their prevalence and outcome in these settings. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and outcome of sepsis and septic shock in ICUs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ⋯ Sepsis and septic shock are common among our ICU admissions, and are associated with a high mortality rate.
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In 2013, the Zambian Ministry of Health identified action priorities for strengthening their emergency care system; one of these priorities was emergency care training for healthcare providers. To rapidly train the existing cadre of frontline providers, trainings were implemented in multiple provinces using the World Health Organization's Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course. The BEC course is open-access and emphasizes a practical syndrome-based approach to critical emergency conditions. This paper describes the first reported larger scale educational intervention of the BEC course in 7 provinces of Zambia. ⋯ Implementation of the WHO's BEC course at seven hospitals throughout Zambia led to improvement in the participants' emergency care knowledge and confidence levels at all sites. The BEC course has the potential to be implemented in a nationwide initiative but would require allocation of significant human and physical resources. Additional work evaluating patient outcomes and long-term participant educational outcomes is needed.