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Objective: Snowboarding has increased in popularity worldwide, with an associated increase in injuries suffered by its participants with a significant proportion of these injuries being severe. We sought to understand the risk of sustaining a splenic injury in snowboarders as compared to skiers, and whether there are noteworthy differences in their characteristics at hospital admission., Methods: A 10-year retrospective review was conducted on patients with splenic injury resulting from snowboarding or skiing, who were admitted to the principle ED and referral hospital servicing several busy downhill skiing areas. Population-based injury rates were calculated for our catchment area, using data provided by the Canadian Ski Council., Results: Controlling for gender, snowboarders were six times more likely to sustain a splenic injury than skiers (P < 0.0001). The risk of splenic injury was 21.7 times greater for male snowboarders than for female snowboarders (P = 0.002). By contrast, no gender differences were observed for skiers. Snowboarders admitted to hospital with a splenic injury were significantly younger, more likely to present with an isolated injury and to required a shorter hospital stay, as compared to skiers., Conclusion: The risk of sustaining an injury of the spleen resulting from blunt abdominal trauma while snowboarding is significantly greater than the risk while downhill skiing. Male snowboarders have a significantly higher risk of splenic injury than female snowboarders. In the majority of cases, snowboarders sustained their injuries as a result of falls or jumps.

Objectives: To compare student performance after Multimedia ACLS Learning System (MM) education compared with that after standard (ST) ACLS education., Methods: Final-year medical students were divided into 2 groups based on convenience scheduling and given ACLS instruction either in a standard format or with the MM course. The sizes of the small groups and the times in small-group instruction were identical. All students were evaluated with the same 50-item multiple-choice written examination, a structured evaluation immediately after the management of a mock cardiac arrest, and a second structured evaluation of the same mock arrest (videotaped) by an instructor blinded to the education method. Students were assigned a mark from 1 to 5 in each of 4 domains: assessment, immediate priorities, continual assessment, and leadership., Results: 75 students took the MM and 38 took the ST course. The mean +/- SD mark for the multiple-choice test was 89.3 +/- 4.9% (MM) vs 89.3 +/- 4.8% (ST); the on-site mock arrest evaluation mark (20 maximum) was 14.1 +/- 2.5 (MM) vs 14.1 +/- 2.0 (ST); and the blinded mock arrest evaluation was 13.1 +/- 2.9 (MM) vs 14.4 +/- 2.9 (ST) (p = 0.024). 1/75 (MM) vs 0/38 (ST) did not successfully complete the on-site mock arrest evaluation. More students in the MM group (46% vs 25%) required multiple attempts to successfully complete the mock arrest evaluation (p < 0.02)., Conclusion: In medical students with no previous ACLS training, structured access to the multimedia ACLS Learning System provides immediate educational outcomes similar to those of a standard ACLS course. Multimedia computer-interactive learning should be enhanced with a short period of hands-on practice.