Background: House-officers and medical officers are at the forefront during medical emergencies in the ward and casualty which impose cognitive, communication, social and system challenges and yet, training in this area is commonly lacking. A workshop was conducted using simulation to provide training on some acute medical emergencies like cord prolapse, post- partum haemorrhage with collapse, poly-trauma and acute exacerbation of asthma. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of simulation in developing competency in managing selected clinical emergencies Methodology: There were 22 participants consisting of house-officers, junior medical officers and nursing clinical instructors. Only doctors were included in the study. Four medical emergencies were chosen viz.: Cord prolapse; post- partum haemorrhage with collapse; poly-trauma and acute exacerbation of asthma. The simulated sessions were conducted using high fidelity manikins and simulated patients. Simulated patients were trained and moulage was applied accordingly. The skills stations were on airway equipment and techniques of application, latest cardiac life support algorithm and hands on chest compression using manikins. Results: A 5 point Likert scale used to rate the sessions. The skills station had 65% (n=13) rating as excellent and 35% (n=7) good. The skills simulation was rated excellent by 75% (n=15) and good by 25% (n=5) of participants. Verbal feedback was that it was very refreshing, informative, and helpful in terms of improving their skills. Conclusion: The simulated skills training for the junior doctors was very well received and maybe beneficial for work preparedness and in the long run address patient safety
Education, Medical

Introduction: Cardiac resuscitation skills are a necessity for newly graduated doctors as they are first responders during a crisis. Despite undergraduate exposure, interns still struggle in an actual crisis. We evaluated final year medical students’ long-term retention of knowledge following cardiac life support training prior to exit from medical school to determine the need to revise and re-strategize. Methods: Thirty-seven final year medical students participated in a quasi-experimental research after a cardiac life support (CLS) course where results of their one best answer assessment-pretest, immediate posttest and 6 months posttest were analyzed. Results: A repeated measure ANOVA was conducted on mean test scores of 30-items one best answer (OBA) questions, measured as pre-test, immediate and 6 months posttests after the course. The result showed significant time effect, Wilks Lambda = 0.126, F (2,35) = 121.468, P = <.001. Follow up comparison indicated that each pairwise comparison difference was significant (p ≤ 0. 05). Both immediate and after 6 months post-course test scores were statistically better than the pretest scores suggesting that there was improvement in knowledge after the course despite the decay. Conclusion Our results showed that retention of knowledge as a short-term memory worked well immediately after the hands-on cardiac resuscitation course. However, though there was improved knowledge even after 6 months compared to before the course, there was decay in knowledge. There is a need to re-strategize to improve knowledge retention.
Knowledge ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation