Impact of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Training on Case Identification and Management Skills Among Undergraduate Medical Students in a Developing Country: A Case-control Study

 In most developing countries, undergraduate medical students rely upon books published by foreign publications of developed countries. These books often fail to include World Health Organization (WHO) recommended guidelines, which are vital for the national health mission of developing countries. As a result, medical students who are “future doctors” continue to lack the necessary skills when they graduate from medical schools and start working in their countries.

 The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of the inclusion of the WHO-recommended integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) guideline in the curriculum of undergraduate students.

 This case-control study was done on a group of 72 undergraduate medical students in the case (trained) group who underwent 12 days of IMCI training and 92 undergraduate students in control (untrained) group who did not receive IMCI training. An evaluation test, which included clinical case scenarios, was conducted to assess the performance of participants from both trained and untrained groups.

 Participants of the trained group scored significantly higher compared with the participants of the untrained group in the identification and management of major childhood illnesses (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found between trained and untrained groups in the assessment of the immunization status of children. In the trained group, a strong positive correlation (r = 0.87) existed between the attendance percentage of participants during the training session and marks scored in the evaluation (P < 0.001).

 Our study suggests that the community-oriented WHO recommended IMCI training significantly improves disease identification and case management skills of undergraduate medical students. In developing countries, there is an urgent need for updating medical pedagogy and curriculum, which include WHO guidelines in order to meet current health challenges.