African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence
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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.
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The Covid-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented nationwide regulations aimed primarily at slowing the spread of the virus. The objective of this study was to describe the effect of these regulations on the number and severity of trauma presentations to a regional emergency department in Kwa-Zulu Natal. ⋯ This study shows that the burden of trauma presenting to the emergency department was decreased in the month of April 2020 by the regulations implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.afjem.2018.01.003.].
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Drowning is the leading cause of childhood death in Bangladesh. In order to minimize the number of casualties Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) incorporated a 'first responder' program which includes Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), in community based drowning prevention program, SwimSafe. Along with swimming lessons, swimming instructors provide first responder services in the community. The objective of this study was to describe the results of the volunteer based first responder services for the management of drowned casualties between 2012 and 2015 in the rural communities of Bangladesh. ⋯ The training of community first responders seems to be an effective way of managing and reducing drowning causalities in countries like Bangladesh, where drowning is a significant public health hazard.
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Otorhinolaryngology services are not available in all hospitals and atraumatic epistaxis is a common presentation to Emergency Departments (ED). Not all ED staff are experienced in managing epistaxis and there appeared to be a high rate of re-bleeding after treatment provided. We aimed to improve outcome for ED patients presenting with atraumatic epistaxis and staff conditions by creating a Departmental pathway outlining a management plan and ensuring all equipment needed was readily available. ⋯ The project's aims of improving epistaxis patients' outcomes and improved convenience for ED staff were achieved.