Early evaluation of pediatric advanced life support courses in children

Aim: To evaluate "Advanced Life Support Courses in Children" (Cocuklarda lleri Yasam Destegi-ClLYAD) which were carried out in Mersin between 2004-2008 and to reconstitute the courses more profitably. Material and Method: The data about seven courses were evaluated retrospectively. The results of pretraining and posttraining tests were compared, p<0.05 value was accepted as significant. Results: 150 practitioners joined the courses. When the pretraining and posttraining test results were compared, the posttraining test results were significantly higher than the pretraining results (p<0.001). While the data of the eight topics available in the course content were evaluated separately, the posttraining test results were found to be statistically better than the pretest results in every topic (p<0.05). Conclusions: It was determined that the knowledge of the doctors about pediatric advanced life support were deficient before joining the courses. The increased success rate after the training is showing the efficiency the courses. This situation is putting forward the necessity of proliferation of these courses. Long term evaluations should be done to determine the duration of effectiveness and updating of the courses. (Turk Arch Ped 2010; 45: 268-71)