Emergency medicine knowledge base of senior medical students

✍ Scribed by DM Goodenberger; MA Rolnick

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 297 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1097-6760
• DOI: 10.1016/s0196-0644(85)80326-7

✦ Synopsis

The Society of Teachers of Emergency Medicine recently developed a Core Content Knowledge Base and Skills List for undergraduate education in emergency medicine. A survey of 141 allopathic and osteopathic medical schools was done to determine to what extent these core content topics were being taught in the curriculum. Responses were obtained from more than 80 schools through 2 mailings and a random telephone follow-up. Questions were specifically asked as to whether the topic or skill was offered, if it was a required or elective part of the curriculum, the year it is offered, and the total number of hours devoted to the topic. Data in this report represent the analysis from 69 schools. Principles of emergency medical services (eg, prehospital care, paramedics) are taught in 57.1% of the schools responding, but only 29.4% have it as a required part of the curriculum. Some topics were offered in the vast majority of medical schools. These included trauma (94.0%), nervous system (94.2%), and musculoskeletal (90.1%) emergencies. Topics in toxicology (80.3%), environmental (86.1%), and ophthalmologic (81.5%) emergencies were taught in most medical schools, but they were a required part of the curriculum in a minority (toxicology, 46.9%; environmental, 48.4%; ophthalmology, 45.5%). Topics in the skills lis[ were taught in a mean of 82.1% of medical schools. These varied from airway management, which is taught in all medical schools but required in 57.1%, to MAST suit application, which is taught in 65.1% and required in 28.6% of medical schools. This survey provides some basic data on the status of emergency medicine core content topics in the undergraduate curriculum.