Efficacy of Computer-Based Simulation as a Modality for Learning Pediatric Disaster Triage for Pediatric Emergency...

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Pediatric Care
• Medical Simulation

Background:

• Pediatric disaster triage (PDT) presents significant challenges for healthcare professionals.
• Mistriage in pediatric emergencies can result in inefficient resource allocation and suboptimal patient outcomes.
• Screen-based simulation offers a reproducible and cost-effective alternative to live simulation for training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the screen-based simulation "60 Seconds to Survival" (60S) in improving pediatric disaster triage accuracy.
• To assess the impact of 60S on mistriage rates among pediatric emergency nursing personnel.
• To determine if screen-based simulation is a viable tool for enhancing PDT skills.

Main Methods:

• A prospective observational study involving 138 nurses from two tertiary care emergency departments.
• Participants were required to engage with the "60 Seconds to Survival" (60S) screen-based simulation at least five times over 13 weeks.
• Triage accuracy, mistriage rates, and simulated patient outcomes were measured using the JumpStart triage tool.

Main Results:

• Triage accuracy significantly improved, with median accuracy increasing from 61.1% to 91.7% (P < 0.0001).
• Mistriage rates substantially decreased, dropping from a median of 38.9% to 8.3% (P < 0.0001).
• The study demonstrated a statistically significant enhancement in triage performance and a reduction in errors.

Conclusions:

• Screen-based simulation, specifically the "60 Seconds to Survival" (60S) program, is an effective method for training pediatric emergency nurses in disaster triage.
• The 60S simulation leads to measurable improvements in triage accuracy and a significant reduction in mistriage.
• This modality provides a practical and efficient approach to enhancing pediatric disaster triage skills for nursing personnel.