The effectiveness of ‘practice while watching’ technique for the first aid training of the chemical industry employees

INTRODUCTION: Industrial accidents constitute about 20% of all causes of accidents. They are often sudden, unexpected and may lead to tragic consequences, which however can be partially reduced if first aid and emergency treatment are given as soon as possible. The most important part of a chain of survival is the bystanders’ response. In practice, it is highly dependent on the ability of co-workers to perform basic first-aid tasks. The aim of this paper was to present the effectiveness of ‘practice while watching’ training method for the first aid training of the chemical industry employees. The authors focused on the most important elements of the training, which have an impact on the acquisition of knowledge and skills of first aid.  MATERIAL AND METHODS: The training involved 69 employees of the chemical industry. The test sheets were used for the assessment, where each of the action steps was assigned points 0 for incorrect and 1 for a properly performed activity.  RESULTS: Each step was completed by at least 76% of workers. When providing both adult and infant CPR, the main difficulty was calling for help. Younger employees obtained better results than older colleagues.  CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated the high effectiveness of the ‘practice while watching’ method. In addition, workers’ age turned out to be a significant variable which affected their performance.

Communication skills learning during medical studies in Poland: opinions of final-year medical students

INTRODUCTION: Despite the increasing emphasis on the medical curriculum, students’ empathy and communicationskills decline with time. As students’ attitudes and experiences may influence the effectivenessof communication training and their future communication style, this study aimed to evaluate the opinionsof last-year medical students on communication skills learning.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Following the fully mixed concurrent equal status design methodology, we invitedsixth-year medical students of our university to fill a paper questionnaire with closed and open questions ontheir perspectives on communication skills learning.RESULTS: Questionnaires were completed by a representative sample of 166 students. The majority of themrecognized the importance and benefits of communication training, and the need to increase its significancein the medical curriculum. They noticed that students with low communication skills lack motivationfor improvement. Students also underlined the significance of the hidden curriculum, reporting a contrastbetween communication classes and the behavior of some physicians. Moreover, students less positively inclinedtowards communication training doubted its effectiveness and importance, suggesting that it shouldbe offered for volunteers.CONCLUSIONS: In order to meet the expectations of students with positive opinions and overcome the lackof motivation or engagement of negatively inclined students, more emphasis should be placed on communicationtraining. Changes in communication training should include increasing its practical character andintensity, emphasizing its importance and benefits, and paying more attention to hidden curriculum aspects.Revisions to the medical school application system should be considered to underline the importanceof interpersonal competencies already at the admission stage