In 2015 Scottish Government produced a new strategy for the management of Out Hospital Cardiac Arrests including an ambition that by 2020 Scotland will be an international leader in the management of OHCA. As part of this strategy Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland carried out a scoping exercise to identify the rehabilitation and psychological aftercare needs of those involved in OHCA. The charity were subsequently awarded funding for the development of an online module to support survivors/significant others/those bereaved by OHCA.
The third sector has close ties with service user communities allowing them access to expert knowledge and giving them the potential to develop effective and relevant educational resources (Scottish Third Sector Research Forum 2011). This paper will explore the design and development of an online module by a team of educationalists healthcare professionals and most importantly those with personal experience of OHCA. Langlois et al (2016) talk of the power of the patient voice in curriculum development and suggest that patient leadership involves co-producing and co-designing. Rather than working from pre-defined learning objectives survivors and significant others shared their experiences on video. Key themes were identified as they emerged and content developed around them thus ensuring that the curriculum was fully patient driven. These survivor narratives provide the focus for the module and are supplemented by additional written content and a digital repository of useful websites.
Available evidence indicates that there is little available internationally in terms of psychological aftercare for those affected by OHCA. Evaluation of earlier CHSS educational initiatives has demonstrated global uptake and it is anticipated that this will be the case for the OHCA module.
