Articles: emergency-medicine.
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An ongoing collaborative partnership between the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Boston University Medical Center, the Armenian Ministry of Health, and the Emergency Hospital of Yerevan, Armenia has been established since 1993. The primary goal of this partnership is to reform and improve the delivery of emergency medical care through a process of education and training that is reproducible, practical, and self-sustaining for the advancement of health care into the future. A six-step educational process was developed, using Armenia as the initial model site for this format. ⋯ An ongoing trauma database collection also shows significant improvement in the number of advanced life support measures being implemented since the inception of this educational training programme. This educational strategy has subsequently been replicated in nine similar partnerships in other countries of the New Independent States, formed after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union in 1990. We believe this six-step educational format is effective for the development and improvement of emergency medical systems in developing countries worldwide.
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We investigated the types of patient presentations that cause senior house officers (SHOs) most difficulty during their tenure in emergency departments and report the extent to which such difficulties are related to SHOs' communication problems, stress, or perceived lack of skills or knowledge. ⋯ ED SHOs may benefit from communication skills training, the opportunity to review difficult case presentations, and the alleviation of organizational stress factors.