title: Training of 'first-aid' trainers: a medical school example in Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A student-oriented basic life support and first-aid training is practical to enlarge the number of qualified people in the field. In this study, we aimed to describe and discuss the training process of a group of medical students at Hacettepe University, School of Medicine and their assessment as basic life support and first-aid trainers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A '6-hour' 'Training the Trainers' course was conducted and participants' demonstration and coaching skills were evaluated by using a 3-point scale (1 - needs improvement; 2 - competently performed; 3 - proficiently performed). In total, 31 students out of 45 volunteers were certified as trainers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All of the students proficiently performed 'explain the aim of the demonstration', 'motivate participants to use checklists', and 'motivate the participants to ask questions' for demonstraton skills. Similarly, they all got the maximum grade for 'answer the questions of the participant', 'discuss the coach role of the participant', 'apply the skills', and 'follow up with the participant by using the checklist' as steps of coaching skills. None of the skills within the checklists needed improvement for any of the candidates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there are limitations, we hope that our experience of the Training the Trainers course will be useful for readers to highlight the importance of skill-based peer education on a very important public health concern, especially for the developing countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Hacettepe University, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey. diaslan@hacettepe.edu.tr
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Altntaş
authors.forename: Ali Naci
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Yldz
authors.forename: Melih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elçin
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Odabaş
authors.forename: Nüket
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Subaş
authors.forename: Nazmi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bilir
authors.forename: Iskender
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sayek
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D005392:First Aid; D013337:Students, Medical; D014421:Turkey