Training in the ABCDE approach by simulation for medical students

One-hundred-forty-seven volunteer medical students in the 3rd (G1, 24 teams) and 202 in the 4th (G2, 30 teams) received a 15-minute lecture about the ABCDE approach. Then they managed two simulated patients (one with chest pain, and one with acute dyspnoea), with the task of implementing the strategy. In the second scenario, several items of the ABCDE sequence improved among G1 (SO2 measured in 96% in the second scenario versus 69 % in the first one, RR 92 vs. 67%, HR 92% vs. 67%, BP 100% vs. 832%, GCS 88% vs. 58%, Temperature 71% vs. 46%, p<0.05 for GCS and Temperature). The ability to identify “red flags” improved significantly between the first and the second simulation for both subgroups (G1 96% vs. 58%, G2 57% vs. 20%). A brief activity in simulation enabled medical students to assess comprehensively critical patients and to identify the “red flags” of each scenario.