Clinical Skills Degradation in Paramedicine Specific to Trauma Management: A Critical Review of the Literature

Clinical Skills Degradation in Paramedicine Specific to Trauma Management: A Critical Review of the Literature

Background
Degradation of clinical skills in medicine, nursing and allied health has been well canvased in the literature. However, within the paramedic paradigm, research appears to concentrate on skills degradation in critical interventions only (eg: advanced airway management and cardiac arrest, both paediatric and adult). Inadequate exploration has been conducted more broadly on skills decay specific to multi-system trauma management in the pre-hospital environment.

Methods
A review of the pre-hosptal care literature was undertaken using Cambridge Journals Online; Informa; MEDLINE; Ovid; ProQuest; PubMed; and Wiley Online Library.

Results
A total of 129 studies on clinical skills degradation were located. From this, 49 related to paramedics and skill degradation. Of these, six related to paediatrics; 14 to advanced airway management and cardiac arrest.

Conclusion
Very few peer-reviewed articles focused on skills specific to adult multi-system trauma, or trauma management such as needle thoracocentesis, haemorrhage control, fracture and traumatic brain injury management. Subsequently, a gap in the literature has been highlighted in relation to pre-hospital skills retention in adult trauma management. This presentation discusses the current state of the evidence on the tenets of skills retention in adult trauma care as they relate to the paramedic profession.