title: Trauma leagues: an alternative way to teach trauma surgery to medical students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to compare the knowledge of medical students between those who are members of the Trauma League (TL) and those from a non-Trauma League (NTL) group of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES).
  
  
  METHODS
  cross-sectional, analytical and descriptive study. Two knowledge tests, with 30 questions each, were applied to students from 3rd to 12th period, randomly selecting five students per period, with 50 students in the TL group and 50 in NTL. The questionnaire topics were: pre-hospital care, the mnemonic ABCDE trauma sequence, advanced trauma and imaging. The students' performances were evaluated by graduation-period group: basic (3rd-5th period), intermediary/clinical (6th-8th) and internship (9th-12th).
  
  
  RESULTS
  in the first test the average accuracy of the TL group was 20.64 ± 3.17, while for the NTL group, it was 14.76 ± 5.28 (p<0.005). In the second test the average accuracy for the TL group was 21.52 ± 3.64, while for the NTL group, the average was 15.36 ± 29.5 (p<0.005). When divided into graduation periods, it was observed that the TL group showed a higher average across all three groups (p<0.05) in both tests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the students who attended the academic league activities have greater knowledge of the issues that are considered relevant to patient trauma care. In all periods of undergraduate academic training, the TL group had greater knowledge of the subject than the NTL group.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Romeo Lages
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Simões
authors.affiliation: Clinical Surgery Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando Antônio Martins
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Bermudes
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Espírito Santo.
authors.forename: Hudson Silva
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Espírito Santo.
authors.forename: Filipe Machado
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Barcelos
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Espírito Santo.
authors.forename: Breno Pinheiro
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Rossoni
authors.affiliation: Clinical Surgery Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gustavo Peixoto Soares
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Miguel
authors.affiliation: State Hospital Dr. Jayme dos Santos Neves, ES, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto de Castro
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Fagundes
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gustavo Pereira
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Fraga
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D014194:Traumatology / Q000193:education*