Promotion of knowledge, skill, and performance of emergency medical technicians in prehospital care of traumatic patients: An action-research study

Annually, there is a high rate of mortality due to trauma. Prehospital emergency personnel are the first caregivers present beside trauma patients, and their dexterity to take care of trauma patients is of great significance in the vast majority of patients’ survival.

This study was action research with the participation of 125 prehospital emergency personnel from May 2016 to December 2018 in five stages (observation, reflection, planning, action, and evaluation) in Iran. Knowledge, skills, and performance of personnel were assessed before and after the action. Data collection tools included knowledge questionnaire and PERFECT skill assessment checklist by Objective Structured Clinical Examination method and researcher‑made checklist for performance. Data were analyzed using SPSS‑21 software.

The findings indicated that 67.82% and 84.4% of prehospital emergency staff have median to low knowledge and expertise in respect to trauma care, respectively. Their performance of necessary measurements for trauma patients was poor prior to training. There was a significant difference between the mean knowledge, skills, and performance of medical emergency technicians before and after the training course (P = 0.00).

Participation of beneficiaries in planning for trauma patient’s care is helpful. Establishment of prehospital trauma life support training in the medical emergency, training curriculum, and its instruction to prehospital emergency personnel while serving in trauma care will be of great benefit.