Articles: emergency-medicine.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Dec 2022
ReviewPreparing medical first responders for crises: a systematic literature review of disaster training programs and their effectiveness.
Adequate training and preparation of medical first responders (MFRs) are essential for an optimal performance in highly demanding situations like disasters (e.g., mass accidents, natural catastrophes). The training needs to be as effective as possible, because precise and effective behavior of MFRs under stress is central for ensuring patients' survival and recovery. This systematic review offers an overview of scientifically evaluated training methods used to prepare MFRs for disasters. It identifies different effectiveness indicators and provides an additional analysis of how and to what extent the innovative training technologies virtual (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are included in disaster training research. ⋯ To determine the success of a training, proper and scientifically sound evaluation is necessary. Of the effectiveness indicators found, performance assessments in simulated scenarios are closest to the target behavior during real disasters. For valid yet inexpensive evaluations, objectively assessible performance measures, such as accuracy, time, and order of actions could be used. However, performance assessments have not been applied often. Furthermore, we found that technology-based training methods represent a promising approach to train many MFRs repeatedly and efficiently. These technologies offer great potential to supplement or partially replace traditional training. Further research is needed on those methods that have been underrepresented, especially serious gaming, immersive VR, and MR.
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In United States, health care workers have been immersed in the COVID-19 pandemic since February 2020. Since availability of COVID-19 vaccines, there is limited literature investigating the incidence of unknown COVID-19 infections in physicians and Advanced Practitioner Providers (APPs) working in emergency departments (EDs). The primary objective is to determine the incidence unknown COVID-19 infection within a cohort of emergency physicians (EPs) and APPs. ⋯ Unknown previous COVID-19 infection was less then expected in this cohort of EPs/APPs, and no association with individual characteristics, previously infected household member, or children in the home.