Establishment of an Undergraduate FOAM Initiative: International Emergency Medicine (iEM) Education Project for Medical Students.

INTRODUCTION: Our goal was to describe the structure, process, platforms, and piloting period activities of the International Emergency Medicine (iEM) Education Project, which is a Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) initiative designed for medical students. METHODS: This was a descriptive study. We analyzed the activity data of iEM Education Project platforms (website and image, video, audio archives) in the piloting period (June 1, 2018-August 31, 2018). Studied variables included the total and monthly views, views by country and continents, the official languages of the countries where platforms were played, and their income levels. RESULTS: Platforms were viewed or played 38,517 times by users from 123 countries. The total views and plays were 8,185, 11,896, and 18,436 in June, July, and August, respectively. We observed a monthly increasing trend in all platforms. Image archive and website were viewed the most. All platforms were dominantly viewed from Asia and North America, high- and upper-middle-income countries, and non-English speaking countries. However, there were no statistically significant differences between continents, income levels, or language in platforms, except for the website, the project's main hub, which showed a strong trend for difference between income levels (Kruskal-Wallis, P = 0.05). Website views were higher in high-income countries compared with low- and lower-middle income countries (Mann Whitney U test, P = 0.038 and P = 0.021, respectively). CONCLUSION: The iEM Education Project was successfully established. Our encouraging initial results support the international expansion and increased collaboration of this project. Despite targeting developing countries with limited resources in this project, their engagement was suboptimal. Solutions to reach medical students in these countries should be investigated.

Assessment of EFAST training for final year medical students in emergency medicine clerkship.

BACKGROUND: Extended Focused Assessment Sonography for Trauma (EFAST) is an important bedside tool for the management of multiple trauma patients. We aimed to evaluate the assessment of our EFAST education in the Emergency Medicine Clerkship (EMC) for final year medical students and the correlations of EFAST marks with other practical skill stations and the final multiple choice question (MCQ) exam marks. METHODS: Fifty-four final year medical students were trained on performing EFAST on human models during their 4-week clerkship. Students received an hour of didactic lecture, 4-hours practical sessions on human models, and completed a minimum of three EFAST examinations on trauma patients. Finally, the EFAST performance was evaluated on human models using a standard evaluation form during an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The marks of 51 students who completed the final exam were analyzed. RESULTS: The overall passing rate of the EFAST station was 88% (n: 45). EFAST station mark had significant weak correlations with other OSCE stations marks (p = 0.027, rho = 0.31), and with the final EMC mark (p = 0.032, rho = 0.3), but not with the final MCQ exam. CONCLUSIONS: Final year medical students demonstrated effective EFAST learning as measured by their examination performance. One hour EFAST training and 4 -hours practice provide an acceptable level of skill for medical students. The EFAST final marks showed significant weak correlation with other OSCE station marks and final clerkship marks, but not with the final MCQ exam mark which assesses a different cognitive learning domain.