Emergency medicine as a career: Knowledge, attitudes and predictors in Nigerian medical students

Despite the high burden of deaths from emergency conditions in Nigeria, there are no formal emergency medicine (EM) residency programs in the country. Due to the absence of training programs in the country, we hypothesised that there may be a lack of awareness of these benefits of specialised emergency care among medical students and also a lack of interest in it. In this study, we assessed the knowledge and attitude of Nigerian medical students towards EM specialty and their willingness to undergo EM training.

Online surveys were shared among medical students in six selected medical schools, one in each of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. The surveys were designed to assess the knowledge of, attitude towards, and interest in EM residency programs. A total of 439 responses were received and analysed using Epi Info 7 analytical software.

Among the 439 respondents, the average knowledge score was 27.5%. Thirty-three percent (CI 28%-37%) of all the respondents had good knowledge about the availability of and opportunities in EM. Good knowledge was determined by a score of >50% on the knowledge portion of the survey, 97%% (CI 96%-99%) of the respondents felt that EM training program should be established in Nigeria and 20.5% % (CI 17%-25%) of the respondents were interested in pursuing EM as a specialty of choice.

Our research showed that there is a low level of knowledge about EM residency training programs among Nigerian medical students. This is likely secondary to the current absence of these programs in Nigeria. Almost all of the respondents felt that an EM training program should be established and a substantial number of medical students indicated an interest in pursuing the specialty.