title: Piloting a pediatric trauma course in Western Jamaica: Lessons learned and future directions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pediatric injuries are a leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite this, there are few formal pediatric-specific trauma educational initiatives available in LMICs. While new educational tools are being developed to address this, they have not been piloted in LMICs. In Jamaica, pediatric injuries are a leading cause of hospital admission but care is limited by a lack of training in triage and stabilization. Our objective was to implement and evaluate a pediatric trauma course in Jamaica to determine the impact this may have on further course development.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pediatric trauma course was conducted at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, Jamaica sponsored by the Children's Medical Services International, a nonprofit organization. Participants took part in six didactic modules, an infant airway intubation skills session, and three clinical simulation scenarios. Participants completed a postcourse survey at the conclusion of the course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-five participants including surgical, pediatric, and emergency medicine residents from regional- and district-level hospitals in Jamaica participated in the course. Participants viewed the course favorably. Strengths included good review of pediatric trauma physiology, short modules, hands-on practice, and applicable clinical scenarios. Using a Likert-type rating scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being very knowledgeable, precourse knowledge was ranked as 5.9, which increased to 9.2 after the course. Using a similar scale, the precourse comfort level to run a pediatric trauma was 4.9 and increased to 8.5 following the course.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Implementation of this pilot pediatric trauma course was feasible and successful through collaboration with the hosting regional hospital. The lack of formal pediatric training can be overcome by a course such as this which includes both didactics and hands-on clinical patient simulations.
  
  
  METHODS
  4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Hadley K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Wesson
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Plant
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Marieka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Helou
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Mednax, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wharton
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Cornwall Hospital, Montego Bay, Jamaica.
authors.forename: Delroy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fray
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, VA, USA. Electronic address: Charles.bagwell@vcuhealth.org.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bagwell
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000379:methods; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000379:methods*; D007563:Jamaica; D007828:Laryngoscopy / Q000193:education; D010820:Physicians; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Jamaica; Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); Patient simulation; Pediatric trauma; Trauma education