American journal of disaster medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Training medical staff for pediatric disaster victims: a comparison of different teaching methods.
The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the different types of healthcare worker training in pediatric disaster medicine knowledge over time and to analyze the effects of training type on healthcare workers' attitude toward pediatric disaster medicine. ⋯ Didactic lecture and tabletop exercises both increase healthcare worker's knowledge of pediatric disaster medical topics. This knowledge seems to be retained for at least 6 months postintervention. The addition of the tabletop exercise to a standard didactic lecture may increase a learner's sense of knowledge and comfort with disaster topics, which may in turn lead to increased staff participation in the event of an actual disaster.