Homme, Jim L.

Background Educational conferences play a crucial role in advancing global health by addressing challenges in diverse settings and fostering bidirectional knowledge exchange. Many new healthcare providers in Ghana lack hands-on experience in life-saving emergency skills, which is further compounded by limited resources and inadequate infrastructure. This highlights the need for targeted educational initiatives. Methods This paper describes a 3-day conference, the Young Doctors Conference, hosted by a non-governmental organization and aimed at improving emergency care skills for early-career healthcare professionals in Ghana. The conference includes interactive sessions on basic life support, newborn resuscitation, obstetric emergencies, point-of-care ultrasound, and communication case studies. An observational study was done using anonymous surveys that were conducted over four years to assess participants’ experiences and the conference’s impact. Results A total of 95 new physicians responded (out of 127), with over 90% reporting being ‘very satisfied’ with the conference. Common descriptors included “high quality,” “useful,” and “inspirational.” Furthermore, 100% of participants rated the quality of the conference as ‘very high’ or ‘high’. Basic life support training significantly increased comfort in managing cardiac arrest and breathing difficulties, while newborn resuscitation improved confidence in caring for critically ill infants. Additionally, 100% of participants stated they were ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to attend again. Conclusions The Young Doctors Conference has been highly rated as an effective initiative in advancing emergency care communication and education. It serves as a valuable model for similar programs in other resource-limited settings, improving skills, communication, and confidence among early-career healthcare professionals. These findings highlight the need for ongoing hands-on education within Ghana’s healthcare system and how partnerships can fill these gaps. Future research is needed to examine long-term outcomes of this conference.

Abstract BACKGROUND Emergency medicine (EM) trainee comfort level with lumbar puncture (LP) has decreased over time due to changing practice guidelines, particularly amongst pediatric patients. We implemented a “just in time” (JIT) brief educational video based on a validated LP evaluation checklist to improve trainee efficiency and competence in LP performance. METHODS Our experimental study took place January-June 2022 within a large, academic Midwestern emergency department (ED) with an established 3-year EM residency program. All 9 interns performed a timed diagnostic LP on an infant LP model in January, scored according to a previously validated LP Performance Scoring Checklist. In June, interns repeated the timed LP procedure directly after watching a brief educational video based on major checklist steps. The study was deemed exempt by the Institutional Review Board. RESULTS All interns completed both assessments. At baseline, interns had logged performance of median 2 (IQR 0–5) LPs and spent 12.9 (10.3–14.4) minutes performing the procedure. Post-intervention, interns had logged an additional median 2 (0–5) LPs and completed the procedure faster with an average time of 10.3 (9.7–11.3) minutes (p = 0.004). A median of 5 (4–7) major steps were missed at baseline, compared to 1 (1–2) at time of post-intervention assessment (p = 0.015). CONCLUSION Development of a brief educational video improved efficiency and competency amongst our intern class in performing an infant LP when viewed Just-In-Time. Similar efforts may improve education and performance of other rare (or decreasing in frequency) procedures within EM training. Future research with other procedures, larger learner cohorts, and comparing JIT approaches will be necessary to determine whether JIT videos based on validated assessment checklists are truly “best practice”. Formal evaluation of the effect of similar “standardized” videos on cognitive load of learners and supervisors is also an important avenue of future research.