Teaching Common Emergencies to Medical Students:An Experience

Introduction. The medical emergencies need not only clinical skills but also proper capabilities of the physicians. Meanwhile, researches show that young physicians are not properly trained to encounter the events threatening patients' lives. So, this study was designed to investigate the effect of an innovative emergencies course on clinical skills of medical students facing emergency patients. Methods. A semi-experimental interventional study was performed as pre-test/post-test in September 2002 in Ayatollah Kashany teaching hospital affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The duration of the designed course was one month and had two theoretical and practical sections. Fifteen students who had passed internal medicine and surgery courses were chosen and divided into five groups. The students' attitude towards their capabilities to encounter emergencies was asked at the beginning and at the end of the course by questionnaires. Also, at the end, the students filled an attitude questionnaire regarding the whole course. The data was analyzed with Wilcoxon test. The mean and standard deviation were calculated. Results. In most fields except ear, nose and throat section (E.N.T.), students assessed their capabilities at the end of the course higher than before. Conclusion. This course was designed mostly on trauma emergencies. The result showed the positive effect of emergency medicine education in improving the self confidence and capabilities of medical students and revealed the need to include this course as a part of medical education.