A Goat Cadaver as a Cost-effective Resource for Teaching Emergency Medicine Procedures in Kijabe, Kenya

Background A pediatric emergency medicine and critical care fellowship was recently developed in Kenya through the University of Nairobi/Kenyatta National Hospital and AIC Kijabe Hospital. As part of this training, a week-long trauma and emergency medicine course was developed with emphasis on trauma and emergency medicine procedures. Given limited resources, we developed a course with simulation of procedures centered around utilization of a goat cadaver. Objective The aim of the study was to describe fellow and faculty experiences and perspectives when using a goat cadaver to teach emergency medicine procedures by simulation in Kijabe, Kenya. Methods A 5-day course was given to 2 fellows with a variety of didactics and simulations after which fellows completed a questionnaire to rate their satisfaction with the content and teaching effectiveness. Results The course was rated very highly, with an average content satisfaction score of 4.5 5 and average teaching effectiveness score of 4.4 of 5. Qualitative faculty feedback was positive, with specific learnings allowing ongoing adaptation of this model. Conclusions A goat cadaver is a cost-effective resource not often considered that can be adequately used to teach several emergency medicine skills by simulation.