IntroductionBosasso General Hospital is located in Puntland Somalia, an area affected by prolonged civil conflict, terrorism, clan fighting and piracy. International evidence highlights that staff skills and competence may have a significant impact on patient outcomes however there has been little research on emergency education in such an austere and volatile environment. The purpose of this study therefore was to identify current practices and gaps in delivering emergency medicine education in this resource-deprived environment.MethodsA mixed methods approach was adopted to inform convergent parallel data collection techniques including questionnaire (n = 16), key informant (n = 5) and focus group interviews (n = 16). Data analysis, following data triangulation, produced descriptive quantitative statistics of themes such as emergency care, educational provision, enablers and barriers.ResultsThe research showed that among health care staff at the hospital, 19% of the nurses felt that visiting nurses offer some knowledge on emergency care, while 38% of knowledge was gained from visiting doctors. Regarding knowledge of emergency medicine, 88.9% of the nurses felt that emergency medicine is basically first aid.DiscussionEmergency care was perceived by the majority as essentially ‘first aid’. Many indicated that they received little or no regular or formal training on emergency care and related essential topics. In terms of challenges faced in delivering emergency care education demonstrated a common factor in the limited resources available which included lack of teaching materials, reading materials, online resources, health care professionals, equipment and mentors. Conclusions drawn suggest that the knowledge of emergency medicine by front line professionals is limited. Therefore, the development of field curricula, practical and theoretical training by visiting practitioners, provision of additional teaching aids, tools and equipment, integration of multiple disciplines in training and financial resource mobilisation would be beneficial in improving knowledge, attitudes and practices of emergency care.

The purpose of this study is to measure the role of job stress among the academic staff of the public universities of UAE. A survey was conducted among 350 academic staffs of the public universities across UAE, concerning the trends of job stress and satisfaction and a possible relationship between these two variables. Primary data analysis reveal that the public universities showed different directions for varying forms of job stress. Moreover, five types of stressors were found to be significant for the academic staff at the universities and when they were tested on job stress, the results revealed the significant impact on job stress. More specifically, pay, and growth stressors as well as work-related stressors were found to negatively influence job stress for the academic staff. Future research of time series analysis can be conducted to understand the trends of stress under different situations over time for academic staff.