An education program on office medical emergency preparedness for primary care pediatricians

Pediatric clinics are ill-prepared in handling medical emergencies. Life-support education, though recommended, has not been evaluated in pediatric primary care.

The objective is to evaluate effectiveness of education in improving knowledge and learner-perceived comfort in managing pediatric office emergencies.

An education program was conducted at 6 pediatric practices. Pre-post program knowledge improvement (15-item questionnaire) and comfort (10-level Likert scale) was assessed using T tests and Cohen's d. Long-term knowledge was assessed.

Physicians demonstrated significant improvement in mean knowledge scores: 1.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.76, 2.91], effect size (d=0.98), whereas nurses had a smaller, nonsignificant improvement: 0.59, 95% CI [-0.19, 1.37], effect size (d=0.24). A significant improvement in mean comfort scores was observed among both physicians: 1.3, 95% CI [0.9, 1.7] and nurses, 1.4, 95% CI [0.7, 2.1]. Among physicians, percentage correct answers on the knowledge test was 79% (baseline), 91% (posttest), and 80% at 3 years.

Education in pediatric office emergency preparedness leads to short-term knowledge improvement among physicians, but gains are not sustained.