Reported comfort with obstetrical emergencies before and after participation in the advanced life support in obstetrics course.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Prior research has demonstrated a change in Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) course attendees' reported comfort with managing specific obstetrical emergencies and procedures before and immediately after participation in an ALSO course. Assessment of longer-term stability of these changes has not been performed. This study measured changes in comfort with obstetrical emergencies and reported practice patterns 1 year after ALSO training.

METHODS: ALSO course attendees (275) were given a grounded Likert scale survey measuring reported comfort with the management of specific obstetrical emergencies and procedures before, immediately after, 6 months after, and 1 year after participation in an ALSO course. Practice patterns were also surveyed. Paired data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA test at a 95% confidence interval for two-tailed significance.

RESULTS: ALSO course participants reported a significant increase in their comfort with the management of each of 15 obstetrical emergencies and procedures taught in the ALSO curriculum. Reported comfort remained high at 6 months' and 1-year follow-up and was accompanied by a statistically significant change in reported practice patterns; more participants performed, in their practice 1 year after completion of ALSO training, amnioinfusion, vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery, and ultrasound for determining fetal position and placental location.

CONCLUSIONS: Affective learning is important in translating knowledge and skills into the practice of medicine. Our study demonstrates that participation in the ALSO course increases participants' knowledge in the affective domain of learning.