Disaster Triage Skills Training: An Introductory Virtual Simulation for Medical Students.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Simulation Technology

Background:

• Disaster triage training is crucial but often absent from medical curricula.
• While simulations effectively teach triage, online formats for medical students remain under-evaluated.
• A need exists for accessible, scalable triage training solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess an online, asynchronous disaster triage simulation for senior medical students.
• To evaluate the impact of the virtual simulation on students' self-reported competency in triage skills.

Main Methods:

• An interactive online triage exercise was created simulating an emergency department during a respiratory illness outbreak.
• Fourth-year medical students participated in the virtual simulation followed by a structured debriefing.
• Pre- and post-assessments measured exercise helpfulness and changes in self-reported triage competency.

Main Results:

• 33 students completed the simulation, rating it highly helpful (mean 4.61/5).
• Self-reported competency significantly increased post-simulation (average 1.17 points, p < 0.001, large effect size).
• Most students progressed from 'beginner'/'developing' to 'developing'/'proficient' competency levels.

Conclusions:

• Virtual simulation effectively enhances medical students' sense of competence in disaster triage skills.
• Online simulation provides a resource-efficient alternative to in-person disaster triage training.
• The developed simulation and its source code are publicly available for broader educational use.