South African pre-hospital guidelines: Report on progress and way forward

In a previous editorial1 the authors introduced the African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM) pre-hospital clinical practice guideline (CPG) project initiated in 2015 on behalf of the Health Professions Council of South Africa Pro- fessional Board of Emergency Care (HPCSA PBEC). To date, aspects of the guideline development project were presented and discussed at the International Emergency Medicine Con- ference (ICEM) in early 2016 and the project has subsequently been completed and submitted to the HPCSA PBEC in June 2016 for review and eventually dissemination and implementa- tion. The guideline represents the first evidence-based CPG for the emergency care profession in Africa. The guideline project aimed to review and update the existing protocols for emer- gency care providers and create an evidence-based CPG which: (i) provides an evidence base for emergency care practice con- textualised to the South African setting (ii) is patient-centred, realistic and enhances the continuation of care throughout the emergency system (iii) is aligned to current local and inter- national best practice and (iv) provide guidance to both cur- rent practitioners and those envisioned by the draft National Emergency Care Education and Training (NECET) policy.