Victoria Nankabirwa, Isaac Guma, Jonathan Kabunga, Charles Bigogo H, Esther Navume Deborah, Kintu Mwanje T, Elizabeth Nakiwere, Gerald Chelimo, Nelson Lemi Edward, Marvin Kanyike A, Mwaka Francis M, Tyler Law J, Alenyo Annet N, Fred Bulamba
Faculty of Health Sciences, Busitema University, Mbale, Uganda.
College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Afr J Emerg Med. 2025 Jun;15(2):602-606. doi: 10.1016/j.afjem.2025.01.003. Epub 2025 Apr 17.
Trauma is one of the leading causes of death and long-term disability globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of specialist emergency care personnel is inadequate and task shifting is common. We aimed to assess the variation in knowledge on acute trauma care, and self-perceived confidence in performing lifesaving skills amongst final year medical students in Uganda.
We conducted a multi-institutional, cross-sectional survey among final year medical students who had just completed their training from eight medical schools in Uganda. We assessed knowledge using a 25 standardized multiple-choice question test adopted from a previous study, and self-reported confidence in perfuming lifesaving skills, scored on a 5-Point Likert scale.
Some 246 (88.5 %) participants responded to the survey and 241 provided complete data. The mean knowledge score was 58.9 % (SD; 12.4) with a mean variation ratio of 0.36 (SD; 0.17). The mean self-perceived confidence score of the participants was 3.8 (SD; 1.0) with relatively high scores in interpretation of radiological investigations (mean 4.2, SD; 0.9) and patient assessment (mean 4.1, SD; 0.9), and lower scores in management of different categories of trauma patients (mean 3.8, SD; 1.0) and performing life-saving procedures (mean 3.5, SD; 0.9). Only three institutions had emergency medicine physicians, with one at each institution, and 146 (60.6 %) of participants received no dedicated trauma training.
Final year medical students exiting training in Uganda had variable knowledge in acute trauma care and intermediate self-perceived confidence in performing lifesaving skills. Training programs need to standardize and strengthen acute trauma training and provide specialists and resources essential for trauma training at undergraduate level.
创伤是全球死亡和长期残疾的主要原因之一。在撒哈拉以南非洲，专科急救护理人员数量不足，任务转移很常见。我们旨在评估乌干达最后一年医学生在急性创伤护理知识方面的差异，以及他们对执行救生技能的自我认知信心。
我们对刚从乌干达八所医学院完成培训的最后一年医学生进行了一项多机构横断面调查。我们使用从先前研究中采用的25道标准化多项选择题测试来评估知识，并以5点李克特量表对执行救生技能的自我报告信心进行评分。
约246名（88.5%）参与者回复了调查，241名提供了完整数据。平均知识得分是58.9%（标准差；12.4），平均变异率为0.36（标准差；0.17）。参与者的平均自我认知信心得分为3.8（标准差；1.0），在放射学检查解读（平均4.2，标准差；0.9）和患者评估（平均4.1，标准差；0.9）方面得分相对较高，而在不同类型创伤患者的管理（平均3.8，标准差；1.0）和执行救生程序（平均3.5，标准差；0.9）方面得分较低。只有三所机构有急诊医学医生，每个机构一名，146名（60.6%）参与者未接受专门的创伤培训。
乌干达完成培训的最后一年医学生在急性创伤护理方面知识各异，在执行救生技能方面自我认知信心中等。培训项目需要规范和加强急性创伤培训，并提供本科阶段创伤培训所需的专家和资源。
