Are Pediatric Emergency Physicians More Knowledgeable and Confident to Respond to a Pediatric Disaster after an Experiential Learning Experience?

Objectives Pediatric hospital disaster responders must be well-trained and prepared to manage children in a mass-casualty incident. Simulations of various types have been the traditional way of testing hospital disaster plans and training hospital staff in skills that are used in rare circumstances. The objective of this longitudinal, survey-based, observational study was to assess the effect of disaster response and management-based experiential learning on the knowledge and confidence of advanced learners. Methods A simulation-based workshop was created for practicing Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physicians, senior PEM physicians, and critical care and pediatric surgery residents to learn how to manage a disaster response. Given that this particular group of learners had never been exposed to such a disaster simulation, its educational value was assessed with the goal of improving the quality of the hospital pediatric medical response to a disaster by increasing the responders' knowledge and confidence. Objective and subjective measures were analyzed using both a retrospective, pre-post survey, as well as case-based evaluation grids. Results The simulation workshop improved the learners' perceived ability to manage patients in a disaster context and identified strengths and areas needing improvement for patient care within the disaster context. Conclusion Advanced learners exposed to an experiential learning activity believed that it improved their ability to manage patients in a disaster situation and felt that it was valuable to their learning. Their confidence was preserved six months later.