Confidence and knowledge in emergency management among medical students across Colombia: A role for the WHO basic emergency care course

Abstract

Introduction Globally, medical students have demonstrated knowledge gaps in emergency care and acute stabilization. In Colombia, new graduates provide care for vulnerable populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course trains frontline providers with limited resources in the management of acute illness and injury. While this course may serve medical students as adjunct to current curriculum, its utility in this learner group has not been investigated. This study performs a baseline assessment of knowledge and confidence in emergency management taught in the BEC amongst medical students in Colombia. Methods A validated, cross-sectional survey assessing knowledge and confidence of emergency care congruent with BEC content was electronically administered to graduating medical students across Colombia. Knowledge was evaluated via 15 multiple choice questions and confidence via 13 questions using 100 mm visual analog scales. Mean knowledge and confidence scores were compared across demographics, geography and prior training using Chi-Squared or one-way ANOVA analyses. Results Data were gathered from 468 graduating medical students at 36 institutions. The mean knowledge score was 59.9% ± 23% (95% CI 57.8–62.0%); the mean confidence score was 59.6 mm ±16.7 mm (95% CI 58.1–61.2). Increasing knowledge and confidence scores were associated with prior completion of emergency management training courses (p<0.0001). Conclusion Knowledge and confidence levels of emergency care management for graduating medical students across Colombia demonstrated room for additional, specialized training. Higher scores were seen in groups that had completed emergency care courses. Implementation of the BEC as an adjunct to current curriculum may serve a valuable addition.

Assessment of First Aid Emergency Knowledge Among Medical Students from First Year to Final Year-A Comparative Study

“…16 In a study in Colombia, knowledge scores were low for the initial approach to resuscitation (46.3%, 95%CI) which is somewhat similar to our study 55.4% of the students correctly answered questions related to CPR. 17 Among the students only 33.9% were able to answer the question regarding management of nose bleed correctly which makes only a small proportion of the whole population. 11 Similarly results from the research showed students had fair knowledge of epistaxis management with only a few demonstrating excellent knowledge imparting the need of proper training to deal with such a common issue.…”