title: Health effects of training laypeople to deliver emergency care in underserviced populations: a systematic review protocol.
abstract: The Disease Control Priorities Project recommends emergency care training for laypersons in low-resource settings, but evidence for these interventions has not yet been systematically reviewed. This review will identify the individual and community health effects of educating laypeople to deliver prehospital emergency care interventions in low-resource settings.
  
  
  
  This systematic review addresses the following question: in underserviced populations and low-resource settings (P), does first aid or emergency care training or education for laypeople (I) confer any individual or community health benefit for emergency health conditions (O), in comparison with no training or other forms of education (C)? We restrict this review to studies reporting quantitatively measurable outcomes, and search 12 electronic bibliographic databases and grey literature sources. A team of expert content and methodology reviewers will conduct title and abstract screening and full-text review, using a custom-built online platform. Two investigators will independently extract methodological variables and outcomes related to patient-level morbidity and mortality and community-level effects on resilience or emergency care capacity. Two investigators will independently assess external validity, selection bias, performance bias, measurement bias, attrition bias and confounding. We will summarise the findings using a narrative approach to highlight similarities and differences between the gathered studies.
  
  
  
  Formal ethical approval is not required.
  
  
  
  The results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication and knowledge translation strategy.
  
  
  
  CRD42014009685.
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Aaron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Orkin
authors.affiliation: Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.affiliation: Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Melanie K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Fortune
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McArthur
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Emma J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Mew
authors.affiliation: Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for General Practice, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stijn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van de Velde
authors.affiliation: Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: VanderBurgh
mesh_terms: D057191:Capacity Building; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D003906:Developing Countries; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004638:Emergency Treatment; D005392:First Aid; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D012107:Research Design; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic
keywords: ACCESS TO CARE; ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY MEDICINE; EDUCATION & TRAINING (see Medical Education & Training); EPIDEMIOLOGY; PUBLIC HEALTH; TASK SHIFTING