Improving medical students' understanding of prehospital care through a fourth year emergency medicine clerkship.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to survey medical students for a measurable opinion or knowledge increase in prehospital care after a fourth-year clerkship in emergency medicine (EM). The goal of the mandatory prehospital care aspect of the clerkship was twofold: to diminish the prehospital knowledge gap in medical school by teaching students about prehospital protocols and disaster medicine and to increase student interest.


METHODS
The study setting was within a university-based academic EM department with a prehospital system of 250 prehospital personnel. Data were collected from two similar questionnaires administered pre- and post-rotation to 49 fourth-year medical students. Statistical analyses were applied to collected data to quantify the changes of opinion and knowledge. Questions used a Likert five-point Scale.


RESULTS
The data verified the improvement of students' knowledge in multiple areas of assessment. Greater than 35% opinion change (two points on the Likert Scale) was found in areas of prehospital care, 911 dispatch and education differences in prehospital providers (all p<0.0001; 95% CI 0.90 to 1.02, 0.66 to 0.90 and 0.66 to 0.90, respectively). Greater than 35% opinion change was also found in understanding triage (p=0.03; 95% CI 0.29 to 0.58) and general teaching of prehospital care, fellowship opportunities and use of a monitor/defibrillator (p<0.0001, p<0.0001 and p=0.04, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
We found medical students developed a significantly improved understanding of prehospital care. Without extraordinary effort, academic emergency departments could easily include a significant experience and education within fourth-year EM clerkships.
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA. Merlinma@umdnj.edu
Mark A
MA
Merlin
Jeffery
J
Moon
Jessica
J
Krimmel
Junfeng
J
Liu
Andreia
A
Marques-Baptista
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003479:Curriculum; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D009515:New Jersey; D013337:Students, Medical