Introduction:

Timely management of medical emergencies is crucial, since the immediate consequences of those events may pose a threat to life.

Objective:

Evaluate the knowledge about medical emergencies among medical students from the National University of Ucayali, Peru.

Methods:

An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted. The study sample was 243 first-to-sixth-year students from the School of Human Medicine of the National University of Ucayali. A previously validated tool was used which included ten variables ranking the level of immediate response to a medical emergency.

Results:

54.2% (n = 129) of the sample were female and 61.8% (n = 84) studied basic sciences. 35.5% (n = 84) of the respondents passed the test. The factors associated to passing the test were the following: being in second year (RPa: 4.88; CI 95%: 1.80-13.27), third year (RPa: 3.14; CI 95%: 1.08-9.17), fourth year (RPa: 5.16; CI 95%: 1.85-14.37), fifth year (RPa: 4.86; CI 95%: 1.77-13.37) or sixth year (RPa: 4.49; CI 95%: 1.61-12.54) of medical school, having failed a course (RPa: 1.39; CI 95%: 1.02-1.94) or having attended a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course (RPa: 1.42; CI 95%: 1.02-1.98).

Conclusions:

Less than half of the respondents had appropriate knowledge about immediate management of medical emergencies. The variables associated to a better level of knowledge were being attending a school year other than the first and having attended a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course.

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