"A short trauma course for physicians in a resource-limited setting: Is low-cost simulation effective?".

INTRODUCTION: Morbidity and mortality from intentional and unintentional injury accounts for a high burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries. In addition to prevention measures, interventions that increase healthcare capacity to manage injuries may be an effective way to decrease morbidity and mortality. A trauma curriculum tailored to low-resource settings was implemented in Managua, Nicaragua utilising traditional didactic methods and novel low-cost simulation methods. Knowledge gain in attending and senior residents was subsequently assessed by using pre- and post-written tests, and by scoring pre- and post-simulation scenarios. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 5-day trauma course was designed for Nicaraguan attending and senior resident physicians who practice at six hospitals in Managua, Nicaragua. On days 1 and 5, participants underwent pre- and post-training evaluations consisting of a 26-question written exam and 2 simulation cases. The written exam questions and simulations were randomly assigned so that no questions or cases were repeated. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare pre- and post-training differences in the written exam, and the percentage of critical actions completed in simulations. Time to critical actions was also analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: A total of 33 participants attended the course, including 18 (55%) attending and 15 (45%) resident physicians, with a 97% completion rate. After the course, overall written examination scores improved 26.3% with positive mean increase of 15.4% (p<0.001). Overall, simulation scores based on the number of critical actions completed improved by 91.4% with a positive mean increase of 33.67 (p<0.001). The time to critical action for completion of the primary survey and cervical spine immobilisation was reduced by 55.9% and 46.6% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A considerable improvement in participants' knowledge of trauma concepts was demonstrated by statistically significant differences in both pre- and post-course written assessments and simulation exercises. The participants showed greatest improvement in trauma simulation scenarios, in which they learned, and subsequently demonstrated, a standardised approach to assessing and managing trauma patients. Low-cost simulation can be a valuable and effective education tool in low- and middle-income countries.

Management of a patient with diabetic ketoacidosis in the emergency department.

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a common problem among known and newly diagnosed diabetic children and adolescents for which they will often seek care in the emergency department (ED). Technological advances are leading to changes in outpatient management of diabetes. The ED physician needs to be aware of the new technologies in the care of diabetic children and comfortable managing patients using continuous subcutaneous insulin infusions. This article reviews the ED management of diabetic ketoacidosis and its associated complications, as well as the specific recommendations in caring for patients using the continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion, serum ketone monitoring, and continuous glucose monitoring.

[Telemedicine: Improving the quality of care for critical patients from the pre-hospital phase to the intensive care unit]. / Telemedicina: mejora de la calidad en la atención de los pacientes críticos desde la fase prehospitalaria hasta el servicio de medicina intensiva.

The Health System is in crisis and critical care (from transport systems to the ICU) cannot escape from that. Lack of integration between ambulances and reference Hospitals, a deep shortage of critical care specialists and assigned economical resources that increase less than critical care demand are the cornerstones of the problem. Moreover, the analysis of the situation anticipated that the problem will be worse in the future. "Closed" ICUs in which critical care specialists direct patient care outperform "open" ones in which primary admitting physicians direct patient care in consultation with critical care specialists. However, the current paradigm in which a critical care specialist is close to the patient is in the edge of the trouble so, only a new paradigm could help to increase the number of patients under intensivist care. Current information technology and networking capabilities should be fully exploited to improve both the extent and quality of intensivist coverage. Far to be a replacement of the existing model Telemedicine might be a complimentary tool. In fact, to centralize medical data into servers has many additional advantages that could even improve the way in which critical care physicians take care of their patients under the traditional system.

Emergency medicine in Ecuador.

Emergency medical care in Ecuador is limited by geographic, economic, political, and infrastructural barriers. Afflictions of the developing world (eg, tropical infections and natural disasters) combine with ailments of the developed world (eg, trauma and cardiovascular disease) to mandate improved emergency medical systems. The nation has recently initiated FASBASE, a program dedicated to the enhancement of both prehospital and emergency department (ED) services. Furthermore, a dedicated residency program in Emergency and Disaster Medicine recently graduated its first class. Although more programs and funding are necessary to sustain the effort, Ecuador has begun to develop a modern emergency medical system.