Preparing for Burn Disasters: Evaluation of a Continuing Education Training Course for Pre-hospital and Hospital Professionals in Kansas

Abstract

"Preparing for Burn Disasters: A Training Course for Pre-Hospital and Hospital Professionals in Kansas," a continuing education program designed to provide licensed health care practitioners a training opportunity for multiple burn victim incidents, emphasized the challenges that the community-wide multidisciplinary team faces when responding to burn disasters. A pre-post survey design was used to assess changes in participants' knowledge and self-rated ability, confidence, and competence to perform in a burn disaster before and after training. Participants (N = 383) were predominantly female (71.1%), 40 years or older (57.7%), nurses (52.2%), were employed in a pre-hospital care setting (38%), and had worked in healthcare for 10 years or fewer (53.6%). The percentage of correct responses pre- vs post-test increased between 30% and 65% on two-thirds of the knowledge items. On the basis of paired-samples t-test analysis, statistically significant increases in participants' overall self-ratings of ability and confidence in burn management were observed in every content area. Most participants (64%) felt competent or highly competent to manage multiple burn casualties after the training program, and most participants (58%) indicated that they intended to incorporate the newly acquired knowledge into their daily practice within 2 weeks. Evaluation results demonstrate that a successful program was designed and implemented. The curriculum and teaching methods achieved desired goals for improved knowledge, which appear to have been translated to enhanced abilities, confidence and competence in burn assessment and treatment modalities.

Advanced Burn Life Support for Day-to-Day Burn Injury Management and Disaster Preparedness

“…Critical partners include EMS agencies as well as hospitals with and without burn centers. 30,31,33,34 To meet the educational need, those involved with the burn surge disaster program evaluated national standardized educational programs. Key criteria for selection included; current science validated by a national stakeholder organization for the care of a burn-injured patient, 35 a core component involving the management of a surge of burn-injured patients, and was approved to offer the relevant educational credits recognized by the various professional organizations to include physicians, nurses, and paramedical personnel.…”

“…However, several states reported finding it difficult to convey a coherent message of managing multiple burn-injured patients, when the general audience felt uncomfortable managing even the first burn-injured patient. 1,[26][27][28][29][30][31] (The BTHPP is now located in the U.S. DHHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response [ASPR] and referred to as the Hospital Preparedness Program [HPP].) 32 The first year this program included offering a wide-reaching series of presentations regarding the aims for the burn surge disaster program and focused on historical burn disasters that wreaked havoc for first responders, first receivers, trauma, and burn centers alike.…”

Measures of Intervention in Burn Disasters: Preparedness and Crisis Management

“…Burn disasters are special incidents in that small numbers of casualties will rapidly overwhelm available services resulting in the decompensation seen with any major disaster [6]. Although most burn incidents result in two or fewer injured people at any one time, every community has large gathering places sites in which multiple burn injuries are most likely to occur such as nightclubs, nursing homes, churches, schools, theaters or industrial plants [7]. Invariably, an incident with high numbers of burn victims poses a challenge to any health care system [8].…”

Could the Kornati Islands Firefighting Tragedy have been Avoided with Better Occupational Medicine and Safety?

“…The therapy of the severely burnt is always complex and medical staff is expected to make quick decisions and interventions [8]. Frequent education training courses for such staff have to be carried out [9]. Experience and preparedness are preconditions for alleviating disaster events [10].…”