Effectiveness of Trauma Evaluation and Management course for Mexican senior medical students: When to implement it?

BackgroundTrauma Evaluation and Management course was designed to develop trauma cognitive skills in senior medical students. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in many regions, except in Latin America, where it has been poorly studied. The objective was to determine the Trauma Evaluation and Management course effectiveness, and whether greater effectiveness is achieved in basic- or clinic-cycle students, as well as student perception.Material and methodsDescriptive, observational, longitudinal and prospective study. Two tests were performed, pre- and post-course; the manual was read by the students prior to both tests. Students were divided into 2 groups: group A (consisting of 71 basic-cycle medical students) and group B (consisting of 44 clinical-cycle medical students).ResultsGroup A achieved a 2.45 increase (p<0.01) in the post-course evaluation compared with pre-course test. Group B increased the mean score by 2.25 (p>0.05) from pre- to post-course tests. There was a significant difference between groups in both evaluations (pre-course test p<0.01 and post-course test p>0.05), with no difference in improvement (p>0.05). Using a questionnaire, 92.17% of the students totally agreed that the course improved their trauma knowledge, 76.52% that it increased their trauma clinical skills, with 94.78% being totally satisfied with the course, and 86.09% totally agreed that Trauma Evaluation and Management course should be in Medicine curriculum.ConclusionsTrauma Evaluation and Management course improves trauma cognitive skills, and undergraduate medical students in Mexico broadly accept it