DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

The attending officers were of five (5) different ranks of the Nigerian police with most of them sergeants and inspectors (fig.A). The officers also had varing years of experience in the RRS unit(fig.B).

The rank of RRS personnels who attended the BLS training

Years of experience of the attending RRS Officers

TRAINERS RATING

The trainers were assessed by the RRS officers based on three different criteria which included:

• Knowledge of the subject matter

• Ability to explain and illustrate concepts

• Ability to answer questions completely

The trainers were rated to be good and excellent as shown in the figures below

RATING OF THE COURSE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

The course organisation was also rated by the officers based on the following categories:

• The usefulness of the training

• The structure of the training sessions

• The pace of the training sessions

• The convenience of the training schedule

• The usefulness of the training materials

As can be seen from the figures below, the information received in the training was rated to be useful, but the structure, pace and organisation of the the course was rated low by some attending RRS officers. This can be explained by the feedback gotten from the officers, as those off duty were the ones that attended the course, and they would rather have liked to spend their day off work on their personal scheduled plans.

COURSE RELEVANCE TO CAREER

The RRS officials were really impressed with the training as most (95%) of them said they will reccommend this training to colleagues and it was an appropriate training for all attending ranks, no matter the years of experience.

Reason for taking the course

From the figure below it can be seen that the major reasons the RRS officers took this course were to enhance job performance, save lives of the public and family in case of emergency.

Positives

We tried to know if the expectations of the officers were met and what they liked from the program. Since one of the reason for taking this course was to improve the chances of saving lives either at home or while carrying out their duty, it was not suprising that they really liked the Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) session. The trainers also did a good job in demonstrating and explaining the pracical and theoretical sessions.

They were also impressed with the healthy lifestyle tips towards preventing and managing diabetes and high blood pressure.

Negatives

Although the program was a success, there were some things the officers were not happy with. This was majorly concerning the absence of printed handouts as the officers said it negatively impacted the communication skill of the trainers. The blood pressure session was the least rated session by the officers and this was due to the feeling that they already had prior knowledge of this subject.

Apart from those negatives, most of the officers had no negatives and rated the program to be an excellent initiative.

Recommendations

The officers also gave structure and event recommendations for future courses. The need for course handouts and other materials was emphasized. Scheduling of the event was also not optimal as they were supposed to be on off duty, and entertainment should be put in place next time to prevent boredom. More time should also be placed on general health tips as the officers themselves need to be healthy to carry out their job effectively.