Improving medical undergraduate trauma education through the Trauma Evaluation and Management programme at Mona

This study examines the potential role of the Trauma Evaluation and Management (TEAM) programme in the undergraduate curriculum for medical students in Jamaica. Thirty-two final year medical students were randomly assigned to two groups of 16. One group (No TEAM) completed two 20-item multiple choice question (MCQ) examinations on trauma resuscitation topics. The second group (TEAM group) completed the first 20- item MCQ. The TEAM manual was then distributed to both groups. After the TEAM programme for both groups, the TEAM group had the second MCQ examination. Unpaired "t" tests were used for in-between group and paired "t" tests for between group comparisons with p < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. Both groups completed a post-course questionnaire rating five items on a scale of one to five. The No TEAM group showed no difference in mean scores between the 1(st) and 2(nd) tests (55.3% in the 1(st) test to 52.2% in the 2(nd) in the 2(nd) test, p=0.32). The TEAM Group improved their MCQ scores from 53.1% pre-module to 69.4% post-module (p < 0.001). A score of four or five was assigned by 28 students for the statement that the objectives were met, that trauma knowledge was improved and that there was overall satisfaction; by 17 students that clinical trauma skills were improved and 29 students that TEAM should be mandatory in the undergraduate curriculum. The TEAM programme improved trauma knowledge skills among senior medical students in Jamaica. The questionnaire results suggested enthusiasm for the programme and that it be made mandatory in the senior undergraduate medical curriculum.