Article
Medical students instructing school children: a link in life long learning
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Authors
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Jan Breckwoldt
- Klinik für Anästhesiologie und operative Intensivmedizin, Charité - Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, D
| Received: | July 15, 2005 |
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| Published: | October 26, 2005 |
Outline
Workshop
Objectives: Resuscitation skills are poor in western societies. We therefore wanted to commence resuscitation training already in schoolchildren.
Also resuscitation skills in practicing doctors show substantial deficits. Especially in basic life support deficits are frequent. Ways to improve retention of skills could be simplifying teaching contents and intensifying the teaching approach.
Methods: As their compulsory course in emergency medicine 5th year medical students were given a preparation course and were afterwards sent to teach basic life support to school children. Groups of three medical students each taught resuscitation to two school classes (9th to 11th grade). Personal evaluation was obtained from schoolchildren, school teachers, and medical students. Medical students were tested after the course in practical skills and theoretical knowledge.
Results: Personal subjective evaluation by schoolchildren, teachers, and medical students was good to very good concerning concept, time consumption, efficiency, and fun. Testing of medical students showed similar theoretical knowledge, but higher practical skills as compared to students completing the conventional emergency medicine course.
Interpretation: The described model of teaching resuscitation links generations during life long learning. We assume this link to be beneficial. In our model theoretical performance of the medical students is comparable to conventional training, practical performance is better.
