Haiti Acute and Emergency Care Conference: descriptive analysis of an acute care continuing medical education program
# Background Several disasters over the past decade have highlighted the need for strong acute-care systems in Haiti. As part of a multifaceted approach to improving national acute-care training, the Research and Education consortium for Acute Care in Haiti (REACH) launched the inaugural Haiti Acut...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Inishmore Laser Scientific Publishing Ltd
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Global Health Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.29392/joghr.3.e2019012 |
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| Summary: | # Background
Several disasters over the past decade have highlighted the need for strong acute-care systems in Haiti. As part of a multifaceted approach to improving national acute-care training, the Research and Education consortium for Acute Care in Haiti (REACH) launched the inaugural Haiti Acute and Emergency Care Conference (HAECC).
# Methods
REACH is a Haitian-led, multinational collaboration based out of Saint Lûc Hospital in Port-au-Prince. The first HAECC was held in April, 2017. Pre- and post-course evaluation consisted of subjective and objective components. Differences between pre- and post-responses were determined using McNemar's test of paired proportions.
# Results
57 participants from 21 hospitals in five Haitian departments were included. The majority (37/58, 63.8%) were physicians. Most (33/57, 57.9%) had no prior training in acute or emergency care, but 8/57 (14.0%) had taken ATLS/ACLS, 11/57 (19.3%) had taken a formal course not internationally recognized, and only 1/57 (1.8%) had completed acute care specialty training. 43.7% (25/57) reported routine access to point-of-care ultrasound. Following course completion, participants felt significantly more comfortable managing basic emergency conditions (up to 25/57, 43.9% increase, *P*\<0.01) and using ultrasound (up to 30/57, 52.6% increase, *P*\<0.01), but improvements on objective testing were not significant (ranging from -2 (-3.5%, *P*=1.00) to +5 (8.7%, *P*=0.15) change).
# Conclusions
While continued quality review is necessary for future iterations of the conference, the inaugural HAECC provided a useful "first pass" for current front-line providers in Haiti. |
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| ISSN: | 2399-1623 |