Abstract
In collaboration, a health science university and a fire department offered a mass casualty incident (MCI) simulation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a cross-section of student health care providers to determine their working knowledge of an MCI. Students were given a pretest using the Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ) and the Simple Triage and Rapid Transport (START) Quiz. The EPIQ instrument related to knowledge of triage, first aid, bio-agent detection, critical reporting, incident command, isolation/quarantine/decontamination, psychological issues, epidemiology, and communications. The START Quiz gave 10 scenarios. Didactic online content was given followed by the simulation a few weeks later. A posttest with the same instruments was given after the simulation. Participants were majority female (81.7%), aged between 25–34 (41.7%), and 61.7% (n = 74) had undergraduate or post-graduate degrees. The overall pretest mean was 2.92 and posttest mean was 3.64. The START Quiz found participants struggled to correctly assign triage levels. Students also experienced challenges correctly assigning patients to specific triage categories. Findings will assist educators to understand knowledge gaps, so revisions can be made to enhance learning in disaster management. Concentration in proper field triage is also a needed focus.
Funder
Center for Interprofessional Collaboration at UT Health Houston
Subject
Health Information Management,Health Informatics,Health Policy,Leadership and Management
Reference18 articles.
1. Assessing and improving hospital mass-casualty preparedness: A no-notice exercise;Waxman;Prehosp. Disast. Med.,2017
2. Wakefield, M.K., Williams, D.R., Menestrel, S.L., and Flaubert, J.L. (2021). The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, The National Academies Press.
3. The response to September 11: A disaster case study;Crane;Ann. Glob. Health,2014
4. Interprofessional collaboration: Three best practice models of interprofessional education;Bridges;Med. Educ. Online,2011
5. Emergency preparedness competencies: Assessing nurses’ educational needs;Wisniewski;JONA J. Nurs. Admin.,2004