TNMU Representatives Participated in the Meeting of the Members of the International Consortium for the Implementation of the “LIFESTRAND” Project of the Erasmus+ Program

On February 17-26, 2024, Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Porto (Portugal) hosted the meeting of the members of the international consortium for the implementation of the “LIFESTRAND” project of the Erasmus+ KA2 CBHE program “Life Support Training and Dissemination for Higher Education Institutions and Community Representatives Living in Military Risk Areas of Ukraine and Georgia”.

In addition to TNMU, the partnership includes the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), the Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians SEMERGEN (Spain), Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy (Georgia), Tbilisi State Medical University (Georgia), Alte University (Georgia), Grigol Robakidze University (Georgia), Porto University (Portugal), Luhansk State Medical University (Ukraine) and Poltava State Medical University (Ukraine).

The goal of the project is to spread skills in providing emergency aid for higher education institutions and representatives of communities living in areas at risk of hostilities in Ukraine and Georgia. At this meeting, TNMU was presented by Associate Professor of the Department of Paediatrics No. 2 and Institutional Coordinator of Erasmus+ programs T. A. Kovalchuk, Associate Professor of the Department of Emergency and Simulation Medicine O.O. Prokhorenko, Assistant Professors of the Department of Emergency and Simulation Medicine N.A. Dzavadova, A. A. Tomkiv, leading specialist of the Interdepartmental Educational and Training Centre N.V. Pasiaka.

Participants of the meeting of the LIFESTRAND project at the University of Santiago de Compostela (from left to right: Tetiana Kovalchuk, Nadiia Pasyaka, Alina Tomkiv, Nargiz Dzavadova, Olga Prokhorenko).

During the first three days of the working meeting, colleagues from the University of Santiago de Compostela shared their experience of training the civilian population in medical triage in conditions of mass casualties, Basic Life Support (BLS) and basic algorithms of actions in the event of a nuclear disaster. Interestingly, in Spain and Portugal, basic life support is included in the compulsory educational curriculum for all high school students.

All participants of the event at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

The information from lecturers Carmen González and Ana María Núñez about the psychological support of victims in the conditions of hostilities was especially relevant. It was striking that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the group of psychological intervention in crisis and emergency situations (GPICSNS) of the official college of psychologists of Galicia adapted, translated into Ukrainian, published and actively distributed among refugees from Ukraine the “Self-support guide for persons in critical situations” and “Self-help manual for persons in a crisis situation”. Each of the participants of the meeting had the opportunity to read and personally receive one copy of these publications.

“Self-support guide for persons in critical situations” for refugees from Ukraine.

“Self-help manual for persons in a crisis situation” for refugees from Ukraine.

A visit to the Simulation Centre of the University of Santiago de Compostela gave an opportunity not only to get acquainted with the technical equipment and features of student training, but also to work out the main scenarios for basic life support in various simulated situations.

Excursion to the Simulation Centre of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Training participants practice BLS algorithms.

All participants of the event took part in the discussions of the meetings of the Curriculum Development Committee and the Quality Assurance Working Team, where further key ways of implementing the LIFESTRAND project were determined.

Participants of the meetings (from left to right: Tetiana Kovalchuk, Nadiia Pasyaka, Alina Tomkiv, Olga Prokhorenko, Nargiz Dzavadova).

The next 2 days of the working meeting of the “LIFESTRAND” project at the Medical University in Porto were devoted to the problems of first aid in case of injuries and other emergency conditions. Special attention was focused on the evacuation of victims in case of limited material and human resources.

Participants of the LIFESTRAND meeting at the University of Porto (from left to right: Nargiz Dzavadova, Nadiia Pasiaka, Alina Tomkiv, Tetiana Kovalchuk, Olga Prokhorenko).

Development of simulation scenarios for providing assistance to injured patients and their evacuation.

A separate session was devoted to the peculiarities of the management of a critical patient by the civilian population, which is a particularly relevant issue today in the conditions of limited access to qualified medical care in the war zone. The main issues of emergency management were convulsive syndrome, anaphylaxis, acute coronary syndrome, hypoglycaemia. The training ended with working out simulation scenarios for providing care to injured patients on the basis of the simulation centre of the Medical University of Porto.

Working out simulation scenarios for the management of a critical patient.

During the meeting of the working group on the implementation of the LIFESTRAND project, the experience of colleagues was obtained from the leading European universities regarding the features of civilian first aid training in the conditions of disasters and military conflicts. The ways and methods of forming community-oriented modules of basic life support and pre-hospital care for injuries and other emergency conditions among the universities of Georgia and Ukraine with the support of Spanish partner universities and Portugal were discussed. Based on the results of the discussions, the further priority directions of the development of the “LIFESTRAND” project and the ways of their implementation were determined, the specification of the necessary equipment for the purchase of future trainings was determined, the issues of developing educational materials on key issues of basic life support and pre-hospital care for injuries and other emergency conditions were considered. The experience gained will be disseminated for further education of trainers, students and civilians within local communities in Ukraine, as well as implemented in the educational process of students of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University.

The information was provided by the Institutional Coordinator of Erasmus programs T. A. Kovalchuk.

Photographs by the author.