Education of the trauma team: Video evaluation of the compliance with universal barrier precautions in resuscitation

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of an educational symposium designed to improve compliance with universal barrier precautions by the use of video analysis of resuscitations. Design: Prospective single blind analysis of data. Setting: Hospital Trauma Unit, Johannesburg, South Africa. Subjects: 100 severely injured patients who presented to the emergency room, divided into two study periods. Interventions: An educational symposium held between the study periods, which focused on universal barrier precautions and the risk of occupational transmission of HIV. Main Outcome Measures: Compliance with items of universal precautions; mechanism; Injury Severity Score and Revised Trauma Score. Results: There was a significant improvement in compliance from 48% to 74% after the symposium (p = 0.007), with specific improvement in the wearing of masks and visors. Initially there was poor compliance with universal precautions in severely injured patients, which significantly improved to 83% compliance (p = 0.0004). Conclusion: Video analysis of resuscitations is an effective audit and educational tool that allows analysis of compliance with protocol. The education symposium was effective in altering attitudes and behaviour towards universal barrier precautions.