Emergency Medicine as a career: Assessing knowledge and Attitude of Medical Interns at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical Centre

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Emergency Medicine was formally recognized as a department by the Ethiopian Federal ministry of health in 2008 and the first formal postgraduate training was established at Addis Ababa University College of Medicine in 2010. Ever since the program has had significance growth in Ethiopia with the opening of a second training program at SPHMMC in 2016. Today SPHMMC have graduated 5 batches of Emergency Physicians with an average annual intake of 20 new residents per year. As Emergency Medicine grows as a specialty in Ethiopia it is imperative that its impact and future prospects be evaluated. Objective: This study seeks to assess the knowledge, and attitude of medical interns at SPHMMC. To identify possible gaps, make recommendations to raise necessary awareness and establish a benchmark upon which future plans ad resources can be allocated. Results: A total of 101 students responded to this study. Of these, majority (59%) scored within the “Good knowledge” range. 29% turned out to have “Excellent Knowledge” while only 13% had “poor knowledge” Likewise, majority of the study cohort (54%) scored within the “Good attitude and perception” range. 21% turned out to have “negative attitude” while only 13% had “Excellent attitude”. Conclusion: Despite majority of interns at SPHMMC showing good knowledge of Emergency Medicine and subsequently good attitude towards it, a significant number still have not decided whether to pursue EM as a career. This may be due to other confounding factors not identified in this study. Keywords: Emergency Medicine, Knowledge, Attitude; Awareness; Specialty; Career choice