Healthcare transport service is a dangerous task when professionals have to deal with patients suffering from contagious diseases. The Ebola outbreak in 2014 and the H1N1 flu virus demonstrated the lack of effective training in the EU. Today there are several protocols for managing tropical diseases, but healthcare professionals are demanding specific guidelines and more practical training material. More specifically, health professionals have identified some shortcomings in current training:
- There is a great dispersion and lack of homogeneous criteria for the training of health professionals in cases of tropical diseases.
- There is a significant dispersion of guidelines to be followed (WHO protocols, national protocols, army guidelines ….) and there is no harmonization between them.
- There are no specific training plans, and the only materials available are some informal brochures.
- Health transport personnel claim to have the protocols for action, but there are no clear guidelines for action. There is no training available for protective equipment.
- Treatment of tropical diseases requires specialized training and rigorous preventive measures to avoid infection.
On the other hand, the creation of the Schengen Area and the abolition of the EU internal borders make necessary common policies and procedures to face any possible virus outbreak through transnational actions.
The TROPICSAFE project aims to develop a homogeneous training protocol at European level focused on patient transport professionals with standardized guidelines for an adequate and safe transfer of patients with tropical diseases.
This training will be published on an Open Online Learning Platform, the best way to convey disinfection guidelines and use of protective equipment. The training modules will include audiovisual support such as videos, images and graphics to better demonstrate the safety procedures that professionals must follow. The e-learning platform will be completed with a test to evaluate the training process.
The TROPICSAFE project is funded by the Erasmus+ program under Grant Agreement 2018-1-DE02-KA202-005077.