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Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians

BACKGROUND: Out-of-hospital emergency care is at an early stage of development in Armenia, with the current emergency medical services (EMS) system having emergency physicians (EPs) work on ambulances along with nurses. While efforts are underway by the Ministry of Health and other organizations to...

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Autores principales: Baghdassarian, Aline A, Donaldson, Ross I, DePiero, Andrew D, Chernett, Nancy L, Sule, Harsh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3932946/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24506949
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1865-1380-7-11
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author Baghdassarian, Aline A
Donaldson, Ross I
DePiero, Andrew D
Chernett, Nancy L
Sule, Harsh
author_facet Baghdassarian, Aline A
Donaldson, Ross I
DePiero, Andrew D
Chernett, Nancy L
Sule, Harsh
author_sort Baghdassarian, Aline A
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Out-of-hospital emergency care is at an early stage of development in Armenia, with the current emergency medical services (EMS) system having emergency physicians (EPs) work on ambulances along with nurses. While efforts are underway by the Ministry of Health and other organizations to reform the EMS system, little data exists on the status of pediatric emergency care (PEC) in the country. We designed this study to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of out-of-hospital emergency physicians in pediatric rapid assessment and resuscitation, and identify areas for PEC improvement. METHODS: We distributed an anonymous, self-administered Knowledge and Attitudes survey to a convenience sample of out-of-hospital EPs in the capital, Yerevan, from August to September 2012. RESULTS: With a response rate of 80%, the majority (89.7%) of respondents failed a 10-question knowledge test (with a pre-defined passing score of ≥7) with a mean score of 4.17 ± 1.99 SD. Answers regarding the relationship between pediatric cardiac arrest and respiratory issues, compression-to-ventilation ratio in neonates, definition of hypotension, and recognition of shock were most frequently incorrect. None of the participants had attended pediatric-specific continuing medical education (CME) activities within the preceding 5 years. χ(2) analysis demonstrated no statistically significant association between physician age, length of EMS experience, type of ambulance (general vs. resuscitation/critical care), or CME attendance and pass/fail status. The majority of participants agreed that PEC education in Armenia needs improvement (98%), that there is a need for pediatric-specific CME (98%), and that national out-of-hospital PEC guidelines would increase PEC safety, efficiency, and effectiveness (96%). CONCLUSIONS: Out-of-hospital emergency physicians in Yerevan, Armenia are deficient in pediatric-specific emergency assessment and resuscitation knowledge and training, but express a clear desire for improvement. There is a need to support additional PEC training and CME within the EMS system in Armenia.
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spelling pubmed-39329462014-03-10 Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians Baghdassarian, Aline A Donaldson, Ross I DePiero, Andrew D Chernett, Nancy L Sule, Harsh Int J Emerg Med Original Research BACKGROUND: Out-of-hospital emergency care is at an early stage of development in Armenia, with the current emergency medical services (EMS) system having emergency physicians (EPs) work on ambulances along with nurses. While efforts are underway by the Ministry of Health and other organizations to reform the EMS system, little data exists on the status of pediatric emergency care (PEC) in the country. We designed this study to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of out-of-hospital emergency physicians in pediatric rapid assessment and resuscitation, and identify areas for PEC improvement. METHODS: We distributed an anonymous, self-administered Knowledge and Attitudes survey to a convenience sample of out-of-hospital EPs in the capital, Yerevan, from August to September 2012. RESULTS: With a response rate of 80%, the majority (89.7%) of respondents failed a 10-question knowledge test (with a pre-defined passing score of ≥7) with a mean score of 4.17 ± 1.99 SD. Answers regarding the relationship between pediatric cardiac arrest and respiratory issues, compression-to-ventilation ratio in neonates, definition of hypotension, and recognition of shock were most frequently incorrect. None of the participants had attended pediatric-specific continuing medical education (CME) activities within the preceding 5 years. χ(2) analysis demonstrated no statistically significant association between physician age, length of EMS experience, type of ambulance (general vs. resuscitation/critical care), or CME attendance and pass/fail status. The majority of participants agreed that PEC education in Armenia needs improvement (98%), that there is a need for pediatric-specific CME (98%), and that national out-of-hospital PEC guidelines would increase PEC safety, efficiency, and effectiveness (96%). CONCLUSIONS: Out-of-hospital emergency physicians in Yerevan, Armenia are deficient in pediatric-specific emergency assessment and resuscitation knowledge and training, but express a clear desire for improvement. There is a need to support additional PEC training and CME within the EMS system in Armenia. Springer 2014-02-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3932946/ /pubmed/24506949 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1865-1380-7-11 Text en Copyright © 2014 Baghdassarian et al.; licensee Springer. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Baghdassarian, Aline A
Donaldson, Ross I
DePiero, Andrew D
Chernett, Nancy L
Sule, Harsh
Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
title Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
title_full Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
title_fullStr Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
title_full_unstemmed Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
title_short Pediatric emergency medical care in Yerevan, Armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
title_sort pediatric emergency medical care in yerevan, armenia: a knowledge and attitudes survey of out-of-hospital emergency physicians
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3932946/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24506949
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1865-1380-7-11
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