Abstracto

Evaluating the effect of the prehospital trauma life support (PHTLS) course on emergency medical services students’ knowledge.

Abdulmajeed Mobrad, Ahed1, Rateb Abuzeid, Riyadh A Alhazmi, Ahmad Atta Aldayes

Background: Trauma in Saudi Arabia is a major public health problem with increasing rates of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the PHTLS course on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) students at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz College for Emergency Medical Services (PSCEMS)/King Saud University (KSU). Method: A quasi-experimental, control group design with pretest-posttest was used to analyze the knowledge of EMS students. A convenience sample of 101 students was used, and the students were randomly (systematic) assigned into two groups, with 51 EMS students in the experimental group and 50 EMS students in the control group. Results: The pretest PHTLS knowledge mean scores of the EMS students who participated in this study were high (mean for the experimental group I, M=80.55 comparing to the mean for control group II, M=71.52), with no significant difference between the experimental and control groups. While the postPHTLS scores were higher in experimental group I (86.27) than in control group II (71.60). These results indicate that the two groups had a comparable level of PHTLS knowledge before the implementation of the PHTLS course, but significant improvement in the experimental group after the course at p ≤ 0.05. Conclusion: The study indicates positive support to the implementation of the PHTLS course for EMS providers, including students. Future research recommends investigating the effect of PHTLS skills on the EMS students.