ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the improvement of knowledge and skills of trauma management among participant of Primary Trauma Care (PTC) workshop. METHODS: A two days Primary Trauma Care (PTC) provider workshop was organized at Dow International Medical College, Karachi - Pakistan on March 5(th) and 6th 2011. Participant's knowledge was assessed by 30 Best Choice Questions (BCQs) and their trauma management skills were assessed by management of trauma case scenario both at pre and post workshop. All scenarios performed by participants were video recorded and marked on a 20 points check list and evaluated by two PTC trainers and graded after consensus. Percentage of participants who scored more than 70% marks on knowledge and skills component were also analyzed. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 17. Wilcoxon Sign Rank test was used to find out significant difference between pre and post workshop score. RESULTS: A total of 20 participants attended the full workshop. Median One best question score before the workshop was 19.5 and post workshop was 25 (p<0.0001). Trauma skills scenario score also showed marked improvement with median score of 3.5 pre workshop and 9.5 post workshop (p<0.0001). Total 19 participants had ≥70% post workshop knowledge score. However, only 4 participants had trauma skill score with ≥70 marks. CONCLUSION: Primary Trauma Care workshop could be an effective course for gaining of knowledge and skills of initial management of trauma patients. However, some modifications need to be done for training of skills components to maximize the output of this interactive workshop.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To study the prevalence of low back pain in medical and nursing undergraduate students in our institutes and its association with physical activity, smoking, depression, use of computer and other variables. METHODS: It was a comparative cross sectional study carried out at two institutes of Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan during October to December 2011. Two hundred and fifteen undergraduate students representing different semesters were asked to fill out the structured questionnaire. Back pain was assessed in terms of lifetime, one year and point prevalence. Bivariate analysis was done to study the relationship between back pain and different variables; including gender, study program, smoking, computer use, depression and level of physical activity. Both the groups were compared for duration/intensity of pain, seeking medical advice and duration of computer use. RESULTS: There were 183 undergraduate students who completed the questionnaire for back pain. Mean age was 22.84 (SD ± 5.85) years. Gender distribution was nearly equal (females = 51.4%). Life time prevalence was 57.9% (72% in medical students; 41% in nursing students). Medical students were 0.47 times more at risk of having back pain (95% CI 0.15-1.48; P=0.198). Smoking (OD=0.39; 95% CI 0.04-3.6; P=0.001) and use of laptop (OD=4.9; 95% CI 1.2-19.2; P=0.031) were found to be associated with increased prevalence of back pain. Nursing students sought medical opinion more as compared to medical students but it was not significant. However duration of computer use was more in medical students which was significant (P=0.03). CONCLUSION: High lifetime prevalence of back pain was observed in undergraduate students. Medical students appeared to be more at risk. Preventive measures are required to improve the quality of life in future health care professionals.
