Efficacy of Distance-Based EMS Education in a Low-Resource Country

Road traffic collisions are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low-resource countries. Compounding this issue is a lack of advanced medical training in these regions and a paucity of developed emergency medical services (EMS). To help address this need, a distance-based EMS educational module was developed with the goal of advancing medical training in resource-poor areas.

This prospective study evaluated the knowledge acquisition and technical effectiveness of a live online, distance-based EMS lecture provided to medical providers at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City, Belize. Participants were given a pretest consisting of 15 questions regarding ambulance and emergency vehicle safety, followed by a posttest of the same questions. One month later, a third test with the same questions was administered to assess knowledge retention. Technological effectiveness was evaluated as well.

Nine participants completed all aspects of the study. Improvement was noted between the average scores of the pretest compared to the posttest (32.5% vs 74.1%) and was maintained from the pretest through the delayed posttest (32.5% vs 57.0%). Overall, participants approved of the technical aspects of the project.

This synchronously presented distance-based EMS educational program showed gains in both immediate and delayed knowledge acquisition among a small sample size. These results show promise that online, distance-based education is a viable option for continuing graduate medical education in low-resource countries.