Comparative Effectiveness of an In-Person and a Virtual Basic Emergency Care Instructor Course.

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Medical Education
• Global Health

Background:

• Resource-limited settings require accessible, quality emergency care.
• The World Health Organization - International Committee of the Red Cross Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course aims to meet this need.
• Traditional BEC trainer training faces barriers like cost, travel, scheduling, and pandemic-related restrictions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual format for training BEC trainers.
• To determine if an online approach can overcome existing barriers to trainer education.

Main Methods:

• The BEC Training-of-Trainers (ToT) course was adapted into a fully online virtual format.
• Participants completed pre- and post-tests (multiple choice) and a feedback survey.
• Results were compared to data from a previous in-person ToT course.

Main Results:

• Both in-person and virtual courses demonstrated significant pre- to post-test score improvements (p < 0.05).
• No statistically significant difference in test score improvement was found between the virtual and in-person formats (p = 0.627).
• Participant feedback was similar, with virtual participants finding the course length more appropriate.

Conclusions:

• A virtual BEC ToT course is an effective, feasible, and acceptable training method.
• The online format yields comparable outcomes to in-person training.
• This virtual approach can significantly enhance the global scalability of BEC ToT and BEC courses, especially in underserved regions.