The role of short intensive task based training course in improving emergency medicine performance among interns in Duhok, Kurdistan region, Iraq

الملخص EN

Background and objectives Medical education has witnessed a dramatic change in the way information is delivered to equip students with essential knowledge and skills.

In Iraq, emergency medicine has been recognized as a discipline that needs improvement.

Task based learning has been shown to be associated with improved competency of health care professionals in performing tasks they face in real life.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the role of task based training module program in improving emergency medicine related procedural skills of newly graduated interns.

Methods A quasi-experimental study design was utilized.

The study was conducted in June and July 2010.

A sample of newly graduated intern from Duhok College of Medicine in the academic year 2008/09 was taken and was divided into 2 groups: intervention and control.

Inclusion criterion for being in the intervention group was that interns who had never worked in emergency units/departments in any hospital.

Nine essential emergency medicine procedures were selected to be included in the training module.

Pre and post assessment of interns in regards to practical skill performance using Objective Structured Clinical Examination tool was done.

Mannequins were used for both training and assessment.

Results Low rates of practical skill performance were detected among both control and intervention groups prior to the implementation of the training module (43.3% vs 33.3).

After implementation the reverse was noticed.

Relevant rates were 43.3% verus 88.6% (p < 0.001).

Both gender and final graduation mark were not found to have a significant effect on practical skill performance.

Overall, participants had a good satisfaction towards the adoption of task based training module approach in learning emergency medicine procedural skills.

Conclusion Task based training as a learning method is found to be effective in teaching emergency medicine procedural skills that are needed to have competent interns in performing their tasks.

Such an approach can be adopted both for training undergraduate students and postgraduate doctors to improve their practical skills.