PTC Course Report – Accra, Ghana – August 2016

Report Author
Teddy Totimeh
City
Accra
Country
Ghana
Start Date
18-08-2016
End Date
19-08-2016
Course Format
2 day Foundation Course Only
Total Number of Participants
33
Course Director
Dr Teddy Totimeh
Course Staff / Faculty

Samuel Akolgo
Jeremiah Tomando
Dr Vincent Ativor

Course Instructors

Dr Fred Osei
Dr Antoinette Bowan

Executive Summary

This was the first course in the Southern Sector of Ghana, and highly anticipated. The main problems had been concerning funding and the readiness of a venue to host course participants. Once the course took off however, everything went smoothly.
There were some misunderstandings on the filling of the confidence matrix and the supervision of the various answer sheets for the pre and post course exams during and after the course was suboptimal, resulting in loss of data for outcomes.
This shall be corrected and ensured during the next courses.

How did you prepare for the course(s)?

We had a series of virtual meetings mainly on phone, before the course, during which we discussed logistics and faculty.
Two members from previous courses in the Upper East were recruited to help with scenarios and practical stations. Three other members of the faculty were recruited from two teaching hospitals. The director of the centre was pivotal in securing the instruments and mannequins needed from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
On the day before the course began we had a site meeting, and a walk through the various stations. We were all satisfied with what was available. We had a final meeting in the morning of the meeting, just to fine tune final arrangements.

Details of Activities

We used the standard PTC timetable, with the various standard topics. Apart from a few delays, we kept the general order, and closed about 40 minutes behind schedule so we could cover the various topics.

Outcomes

1. Precourse/Post course MCQ Precourse /Post course confidence matrix
a. 13/15
b. 11/13
c. 13/17
d. 11/15
e. 12/15
f. 16/24
g 7/13
h 9/12
i 10/14 24/34
j 9/10
k. 16/17
l. 16/16
m 5/9
n. 15/15 27/28
o. 16/16
p. 9/12
q. 10/14 37/40
r. 10/14 37/36
s. 16/18 25/35
t. 12/15
u. 37/40
v. 17/17
w. 8/9
x. 16/16 18/18
y. 12/13 32/40

Evaluation Summary

This was the first course in Accra, and there were a few hitches in organization and handling of logistics, but all in all, it was a good course with a lot of good feedback from the participants. There is a significant dearth of basic knowledge about primary trauma management and this course revealed a readiness to learn in the environment provided by the faculty, which was reassuring.

Evaluation Report

Very satisfying time spent.
The organisational support from the staff of the centre was perfect
The teamwork was impressive
The course participants were obviously encouraged by what they had learnt

Acknowledgements

Kwame Agyire Tettey
Victoria Koomson

Recommendations / Other Comments

The collaboration with the ministry of health and other organizations is essential in freeings staff to help with the program. Relationships with the governmental institutions on health have been really helpful in the rolling out of the primary trauma care course.

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