Creation of a standardized burn course for Low Income Countries: meeting local needs

Abstract

Introduction: Standardized courses for the care of the burn patient have historically been developed in High Income Countries (HIC). These courses do not necessarily reflect the challenges and needs of Low Income Countries (LIC) and some components may not be relevant there (i.e. use of ventilators in a country that has no or very limited number of ventilators). We are developing a Burn Management Course for East Africa. This course was created and trialed in a LIC and subsequently a formal manual and course curriculum created. Recently the first iteration of the course was undertaken in a major regional burn centre in East Africa. We present participant feedback on the course content, and potential future directions for course development.

Objective: (1) To evaluate the ability of a standardized burn course for LIC to meet the needs of the participants. (2) To explore characteristics of burn care and needs related to delivery of burn care in LIC.

Methods: 21 students participated in a multidisciplinary burn management course. They were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire at the end of the course.

Results: There were 11 nurses, 6 doctors, a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, and a dietician. 15 worked in either the adult or pediatric burn units, the other six worked in emergency, ICU or the operating room. The majority of respondents (56%) had less than 3 years of experience working with burn patients. Overall agreement that the course met their objectives was rated as 4.6 out of 5. As well the students agreement that they had a better understanding of burn injury was rated as 4.8/5. 55.6% indicated that scalds were the most commonly seen injury followed by 27.8% responding that flames were the most common. Some responses to the question of top difficulties facing the caregivers were similar to HIC: staffing shortages, bed shortages, and finding useable donor site in large burns. Other responses highlighted the challenges these care givers face: poverty stricken patients, not enough appropriate food available, and deficiencies in infection control practices.

Conclusion: It is possible to create a course that translates knowledge from a HIC setting to meet the needs of the end-user in a LIC setting.

Keywords: Burn; Education; Essential Burn Management; Low income country; Multidisciplinary; Standardized training.