Abstracts of the 10th Tanzania Health Summit

Background Identifying children who are clinically deteriorating is essential to early intervention and utilization of available resources to improve outcomes. Quality Improvement (QI) team observed a significant number of children admitted to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with conditions which could be managed in the wards. The project aimed to equip general Pediatric ward healthcare workers with knowledge and skills to detect children who are clinically deteriorating and intervene. Program Intervention/Methodology Three-day training conducted for Pediatric healthcare workers from general wards which comprised of lectures and hands-on skills sessions on Pediatric early warning signs, assessment of airway, breathing and circulation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and proper patient handover. Knowledge assessment conducted through pre- and post-training tests. REDCap data tracking system was developed, and SPSS version 25 was used for analysis and evaluation. Results Finding A total of 70 out of 121 healthcare workers from Pediatric general wards were trained as the first phase. Average scores on the knowledge assessment increased from 44.9% pre-test to 66.1% post- test (p < 0.01). Average confidence with recognition and management of critically ill children across ten domains increased from 33.1% feeling “very confident” to 89.1% feeling “very confident” (p < 0.01) and 11.6% feeling “not confident” to 0.3% feeling “not confident” (p < 0.01). Qualitative comments indicated overall positive feedback on the training. Program Implication & Lesson Learned This project outlines the first steps of an educational and QI initiative to equip healthcare workers in identifying and triaging critically ill children, hence improving clinical outcome. The next steps will be to assess the retention of knowledge, the need for refresher training and impact on patient care.