gms | German Medical Science

Research question: Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) is a WHO supported concept to provide appropriate treatment for sick children, especially in the first 24 hours after hospitalization in countries with limited resources. The main goal is to reduce early child mortality by identifying life threatening conditions and ensuring prompt treatment according to simple algorithms. In Germany, the ETAT working group of the GTP e.V. offers a three day ETAT plus training to health professionals who plan to work in resource-limited settings. The training consists of lectures and practical sessions based on the core ETAT algorithm including the “plus modules” neonatology, trauma, burns, malnutrition and ETAT implementation. This research aimed at determining whether the target group and teaching outcomes were reached.

Method: The participants were asked to evaluate the different training components anonymously and confidentially after each day of the course with an online based tool. In 2022 the faculty defined learning objectives for each practical session including key content and taught skills like mask ventilation or chest compressions. These objectives were specifically evaluated at the end of the course by a participants’ self-assessment.

Results: Since the course was launched 5 years ago, the demand for the training has been high. Despite the challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ETAT working group was able to facilitate the training safely for a total of 137 participants, mainly medical doctors (80%) with pediatric background (64%) from Germany (85%) and other European countries (12%). Most participants were happy with the time for discussion (87%) and the balance between lectures and practicals (91%). Individual sessions were rated (ordinal scale 1–5, with 1=excellent and 5=poor) rated on average with 1.7 for content and 1.6 for the individual presentation (range 1.1–2.7). Asked for an overall course rating the result was 1.3. Almost all (99%) would recommend the course. The self-assessment, established in 2022 (n=27), showed that all participants agreed or strongly agreed that they gained well-grounded knowledge and improved their practical skills. The majority (90%) felt confident in the taught practical skills. In addition, 85% felt confident and 14% partly confident in the core ETAT modules. Even for the more complex ETAT “plus modules” the confidence remained on a high level (74% confident, 25% partly confident).

Discussion: The German ETAT courses are characterized by a high participants’ satisfaction and seem to achieve the defined key objectives. To determine whether this benefit remains in real life working situations, it is planned to collect further data on the course’s impact from our alumni community.