Effectiveness of the Introduction to Critical Care in Emergency Medicine Curriculum's Implementation Among Trainees Interested in Intensive Care

Abstract

BackgroundEmergency physicians and trainees provide the initial care for critically ill patients. In times of emergency department boarding, this care may extend beyond the first few hours. To meet the needs of this population, a standardized novel critical care curriculum targeting third- and fourth-year medical students was developed. ObjectivesWe hypothesized that the institution of such a curriculum is feasible and will provide an increased understanding of the underlying critical care principles within this learner population. MethodsWe developed a 2-month-long critical care curriculum (February–April) and carried out the course twice from 2022–2023. Our pilot study deployed this curriculum to medical students interested in critical care through the American Academy of Emergency Medicine/Resident and Student Association. The primary outcome included was the overall composite score comparison of the pre- and post-course evaluations, with a higher score indicating that the student improved their comprehension. Secondary outcomes included the individual factors of the pre- and post-course surveys. ResultsFifty-one trainees completed the pilot course, including 11/51 (21.6%) third-year medical students and 40/51 (78.4%) fourth-year medical students. Overall, 39 had “no experience” in critical care and 12 indicated that they had “previous experience.” The students’ baseline pre-course from the pooled 2022 and 2023 Introduction to Critical Care in Emergency Medicine (ICCEM) curriculum data was 3 (interquartile range 4–3) and their post-course score was 9 (interquartile range 9–9), p-value 0.015 for the 51/54 students who completed the course. ConclusionsThe novel curriculum was found to be effective during its implementation in third- and fourth-year medical students. As such, it indicated that a critical care fundamentals course improves confidence in these topics for students with and without prior experience. Further work is necessary to understand the generalizability and knowledge retention of the proposed pilot curriculum.