Cross sectional survey of the knowledge of junior doctors regarding the electrocardiogram

It is a study that looks into the knowledge and competance of junior doctors concerning the electrocardiogram (ECG). The ECG is a bed side investigation that can be used to diagnose a wide variety of abnormalities regarding the heart and can give valuable information including life threatening conditions whose management is very time dependent. It is important for medical students to master pattern recognition that can be seen on the ecg and be able to diagnose and manage these conditions appropriately. Having said that, evidence shows that doctors in general are lacking this efficient skill of interpreting the ECG and in addition to that, there is no standard learning curriculum as to which ECG conditions / diagnosis need to be taught to medical students. In this research we use the results of the Delphi study done by Viljoen et al which was mainly to determine ECG training priorities for medical students. The ecg diagnoses that reached concensus from the experts as the important must know diagnoses are then used to design a questionare which will be used to assess junior doctors' knowledge regarding the ECG. The study will be based in Pretoria teaching hospitals , Gauteng Province South Africa.