lthcare Prof:

HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality today released a DVD titled “Cross Training Respiratory Extenders for Medical Emergencies (Project XTREME),” to train well being care specialists who are not respiratory care specialists to provide basic respiratory care and ventilator management to adult patients in any mass casualty event. Amongst the possible emergencies when such auxiliary clinical help may possibly be necessary are an influenza pandemic, a bioterrorist attack involving anthrax or other agents, or an outbreak of severe acute respiratory illnesses. Principal target groups for the training are physicians, physician assistants, and nurses.

“The DVD is not intended to train well being care specialists to become respiratory therapists, but to expand our respiratory care capacity inside the event of a major public wellness emergency,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. “I hope the DVD will get widespread use to ensure that we have adequate medical resources if confronted by a bioterrorist attack or other large-scale public health emergency.”

The DVD includes six training modules with interactive quizzes to test viewers’ knowledge. The modules cover infection control, respiratory care terms and definitions, manual ventilation (using hand-held bags), mechanical ventilation (using the two types of ventilators included in the Federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile of medicines and medical supplies for emergencies), airway maintenance, and airway suctioning.

The DVD was produced for AHRQ by a team of respiratory care specialists in the Denver Well being Medical Center led by Michael Hanley, M.D., as part of Project XTREME. A related report also funded by AHRQ, “Project XTREME: Model for Well being Professionals’ Cross-Training for Mass Casualty Respiratory Needs,” provides further information on the training model also as the research and methodologies used in developing it. A cost-free, single copy with the DVD and a CD-ROM with all the report could be ordered by calling 1-800-358-9295 or by sending an e-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.gov.

AHRQ has funded far more than 60 emergency preparedness-related studies, workshops, and conferences to help hospitals and wellness care systems prepare for public health emergencies. Far more information about these projects could be found on the web at http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/.