Knowledge and skills for extraocular foreign body removal: a study with physicians, medical students and ophthalmologists

Conhecimento e habilidades para a remoção de corpo estranho extraocular: um estudo com médicos, estudantes de medicina e oftalmologistas

Objective:  To identify the knowledge and skills of generalist physicians and medical interns, as well as the perception of ophthalmologists regarding academic training for extraocular foreign body removal.

Methods:  This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The study included physicians on duty in the emergency department of a university hospital and an Emergency Care Unit.

Results:  The total number of participants was 87, including 18 generalist physicians on duty, 59 medical students, and 10 ophthalmologists. Three different semi-structured questionnaires were used. 11.11% of the on-duty physicians and 3.39% of the students considered the knowledge acquired about extraocular foreign body removal to be good. The majority of the on-duty physicians (58.82%) and students (76.27%) did not consider themselves capable of performing the procedure. Among ophthalmologists, 90% considered that foreign body removal should not be performed by non-ophthalmologists.

Conclusion:  There is a need to develop teaching-learning strategies that can minimize the knowledge and skill deficiencies of on-duty physicians and medical students for the removal of extraocular foreign bodies due to the relative frequency of this occurrence in general emergency care services.

Keywords:
Extraocular foreign body; Medical education; Education, medical, continuing