Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2006
Comparative StudyParamedic student performance: comparison of online with on-campus lecture delivery methods.
Colleges and universities are experiencing increasing demand for online courses in many healthcare disciplines, including emergency medical services (EMS). Development and implementation of online paramedic courses with the quality of education experienced in the traditional classroom setting is essential in order to maintain the integrity of the educational process. Currently, there is conflicting evidence of whether a significant difference exists in student performance between online and traditional nursing and allied health courses. However, there are no published investigations of the effectiveness of online learning by paramedic students. ⋯ Distance learning technology appears to be an effective mechanism for extending didactic paramedic education off-campus, and may be beneficial particularly to areas that lack paramedic training programs or adequate numbers of qualified instructors.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2006
What a disaster?! Assessing utility of simulated disaster exercise and educational process for improving hospital preparedness.
Recent events have brought disaster medicine into the public focus. Both the government and communities expect hospitals to be prepared to cope with all types of emergencies. Disaster simulations are the traditional method of testing hospital disaster plans, but a recent, comprehensive, literature review failed to find any substantial scientific data proving the benefit of these resource- and time-consuming exercises. ⋯ The disaster exercise and educational process had the greatest benefit for individuals and departments involved directly. The intervention also prompted enterprise-wide review, and an upgrade of disaster plans at departmental levels. Pre-intervention knowledge scores were poor. Post-intervention knowledge base remained suboptimal, despite a statistically significant improvement. This study supports the widely held belief that disaster simulation is a worthwhile exercise, but more must be done. More time and resources must be dedicated to the increasingly important field of hospital disaster preparedness.