What is the Appropriate Level of Electrocardiography Education Needed for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) Students?.
- Author:
Sang Chul KIM
1
;
Gi Woon KIM
;
Yeon Ho YOU
;
Yang Ju TAK
;
Jin Hue KIM
;
Sung Oh HWANG
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Konkuk University, Chungju, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Electrocardiography;
Emergency medical technicians;
Delphi technique;
Curriculum
- MeSH:
Advanced Cardiac Life Support;
Arrhythmias, Cardiac;
Consensus;
Curriculum;
Delphi Technique;
Electrocardiography;
Emergencies;
Emergency Medical Technicians;
Emergency Medicine;
Humans;
Infarction;
Porphyrins;
Surveys and Questionnaires;
Specialization
- From:Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
2010;21(6):892-900
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: Assess the appropriate level of electrocardiography (EKG) education that should be incorporated into the curriculum of emergency medical technician (EMT) students. METHODS: Consensus by EMT professors and emergency medicine specialists was obtained using two rounds of the Delphi survey. The questionnaire consisted of 70 items; 12 related to demographic information, 8 related to general interpretation of EKG, 26 related to interpretation of arrhythmia, 20 related interpretations of structural anomaly, infarction and systemic disease, and 4 related to interpretation of EKG findings used for advanced cardiac life support. We considered consensus to be agreement of greater than 7 of 9 (66.7%). RESULTS: 59 and 24 subjects were included in the first and second rounds of the Delphi survey, respectively. The response rate was 59% for the first round and 40.7% for the second round. Of 70 items, 40 items came to a consensus by the panel. All items related to interpretation of EKG and advanced cardiac life support and most (10 of 12) items related to basic content were felt to be important by both EMT professors and emergency medicine specialists. However, for items related to arrhythmia and related to structural anomaly, infarction and systemic disease, less than half of the items examined were felt to be necessary in the curriculum of EMT students (12 of 26 and 6 of 20). CONCLUSION: We identified 40 items that should be included into the EKG curriculum of EMT students. These findings should be used to create more effective educational programs for EMT students.
