An Assessment of the Competency Requirements of Medical EmergencyResponse Procedure (MERP) Modelling for Transporters and Commuters

Abstract

The Study examined the Competency Requirements of Medical Emergency Response Procedure (MERP) Modeling for Transporter and Commuters. The incessant cases of medical emergencies reported in the recent past and the poor level of response to handle these incidents have necessitated this study. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the skill and competencies required to manage medical emergencies in line with the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO) criteria. The research work employed the use of primary data and methods of data collected via structured questionnaire survey, key informant interviews and focused group discussions. Data employed include respondents’ demographics, response on Tiers 0 and 1 skills and competency records in the study area, findings indicated that the competency resources in the study area falls below the (OPITO) criteria for competency development and maintenance due to the absence of Tier 0 and 1 MER professionals and essential First Aid equipment including Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs. The Study concludes that training and competency development and provision of basic first aid resources is required for medical emergencies response is key. To bridge the competency gap, the study recommends human capacity building to develop and deploy Tiers 0 and 1 competencies; secondly, government policies and framework to promote the operationalization of the medical emergency procedure, as well as funding mechanism to achieve its implementation pursuant to the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 which focus on Health and wellbeing.