Abstract
Facial trauma accounts for 5%-10% of all presentations to emergency departments (ED)
in the UK, and it is often referred to the oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) department
by ED physicians. Undergraduate medical students often have limited exposure to OMFS,
and this is likely to translate to reduced exposure to facial trauma. We investigated
the exposure of undergraduate clinical medical students to facial trauma teaching
and asked about their confidence to manage facial lacerations and their ability to
diagnose common facial fractures. An online survey was completed by 237 medical students
across two English universities, 154 (65%) from University A and 83 (35%) from University
B. Of the students, 68% reported no exposure to any teaching in facial trauma up to
their current year of medical school; no statistically significant differences were
found among the year groups (p>0.05). The majority of facial fractures within our
cohort were referred to ear, nose and throat (ENT) (43%), followed by OMFS (31%),
and plastic surgery (12%). In total, 84% of students did not feel competent to manage
facial lacerations, and 95% were not confident to present a facial injuries examination
to a senior colleague. Exposure to facial trauma teaching remains poor. Future work
should aim to devise a clear OMFS curriculum with objective teaching on facial trauma.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 10, 2021
Accepted:
December 2,
2021
Received:
December 1,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
