Preparing health care students for mass casualty events

COVID-19 spread rapidly across the world, and by March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was identified in South Africa. Lockdown-related measures such as restricted movement and isolation were implemented to contain the virus. Combined with these measures, factors such as economic decline, job losses, and food shortages can cause numerous mental health sequelae such as depression. Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness as well as cases of suicide have been reported around the world due to the pandemic and the associated feelings of anxiety and depression. The aims of this study were to investigate levels of hopelessness and depression in a sample of health care students. A random sample of students ( N = 174) enrolled in a health sciences programme at the University of the Western Cape completed the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and a three-item Resilience Scale. The results revealed high levels of hopelessness and depression compared to previously reported normative data for these scales. In addition, the indirect effects of hopelessness on depression were significant, demonstrating the mediating role of resilience in the hopelessness–depression relationship. These results highlight a call for universities to take proactive measures in providing students with free and easily accessible resources to help them cope and manage stress during a traumatic event. More importantly, at a national level, preventive measures should be implemented to strengthen resilience in young adults.

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A New Scale of Readiness for Health Care Students to Encounter Partner Abuse

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520981131 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088626052098113

Author(s):

Simon Sawyer ◽

Glenn Melvin ◽

Angela Williams ◽

Brett Williams

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Psychometric Properties ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Partner Abuse ◽

Content Validation ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Good Reliability ◽

Health Care Students ◽

Australian Health ◽

Health Care Practitioners

Partner abuse (PA) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Health care practitioners regularly encounter patients experiencing PA and require comprehensive education on how to respond. This study describes the creation and validation of a new measure of readiness to encounter patients experiencing PA for health care practitioners and students. Initial item development and content validation were informed by expert feedback. Psychometric properties were assessed using data collected from Australian health care students, using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Internal consistency, inter-scale correlations, and test–retest analysis were performed. An initial pool of 67 items was reduced to 48 following content validation by 5 experts as a measure of construct validity. A total of n = 926 responses were collected, which were randomly split into two groups to perform a PCA and CFA. The PCA resulted in a 31-item version, which was further reduced to a 27-item version following the CFA, containing four factors. Internal consistency and test–retest analyses demonstrated good reliability. The produced scale is a 27-item measure of readiness to encounter patients experiencing PA, which has demonstrated good psychometric properties with a sample of Australian health care students. Results indicate that self-efficacy and Emotional-readiness are a large component of readiness. The scale may be used to measure the readiness of a cohort, or as a pre and post-intervention measure, and results may provide insight into the educational needs of a cohort.

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Mass-Casualty Training Exercise Using High-Fidelity Computerized Simulators and Involving Time and Resource Limitation

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x21000327 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 313-320

Author(s):

Phillip A. Jacobson ◽

Paul N. Severin ◽

Dino P. Rumoro ◽

Shital Shah

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Resource Limitation ◽

Mass Casualty ◽

Health Care Personnel ◽

High Fidelity ◽

Medical Team ◽

Training Exercise ◽

The Mean ◽

Medical Teams

AbstractPurpose:Training emergency department (ED) personnel in the care of victims of mass-casualty incidents (MCIs) is a highly challenging task requiring unique and innovative approaches. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively explore the value of high-fidelity simulators in an exercise that incorporates time and resource limitation as an optimal method of training health care personnel in mass-casualty care.Methods:Mass-casualty injury patterns from an explosive blast event were simulated for 12 victims using high-fidelity computerized simulators (HFCS). Programmed outcomes, based on the nature of injuries and conduct of participants, ranged from successful resuscitation and survival to death. The training exercise was conducted five times with different teams of health care personnel (n = 42). The exercise involved limited time and resources such as blood, ventilators, and imaging capability. Medical team performance was observed and recorded. Following the exercise, participants completed a survey regarding their training satisfaction, quality of the exercise, and their prior experiences with MCI simulations. The Likert scale responses from the survey were evaluated using mean with 95% confidence interval, as well as median and inter-quartile range. For the categorical responses, the frequency, proportions, and associated 95% confidence interval were calculated.Results:The mean rating on the quality of experiences related trainee survey questions (n = 42) was between 4.1 and 4.6 on a scale of 5.0. The mean ratings on a scale of 10.0 for quality, usefulness, and pertinence of the program were 9.2, 9.5, and 9.5, respectfully. One hundred percent of respondents believed that this type of exercise should be required for MCI training and would recommend this exercise to colleagues. The five medical team (n = 5) performances resulted in the number of deaths ranging from two (including the expectant victims) to six. Eighty percent of medical teams attempted to resuscitate the “expectant” infant and exhausted the O- blood supply. Sixty percent of medical teams depleted the supply of ventilators. Forty percent of medical teams treated “delayed” victims too early.Conclusion:A training exercise using HFCS for mass casualties and employing limited time and resources is described. This exercise is a preferred method of training among participating health care personnel.

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Pharmacoeconomic Education for Health Care Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Value in Health ◽

10.1016/j.jval.2013.08.909 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 16 (7) ◽

pp. A479 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

T. Catic

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽

Health Care Students

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Sleep quality and its correlation to general health status in health care students

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)73269-2 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 1565-1565 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. Sahraian ◽

A. Javadpour ◽

A. Mani

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Status ◽

Sleep Quality ◽

General Health ◽

Sleep Disruption ◽

Poor Sleep ◽

General Health Status ◽

Health Care Students ◽

Quality Sleep ◽

Health Related

IntroductionSleep-wake cycle is one of human biological rhythm highly correlated to well being and general health status.Poor sleep quality, sleep disruption and changes in regular Sleep-wake pattern may cause physical and psychological burden such as impairment in job performance, decreased work efficiency and learning disability.ObjectiveHealth care students trained in medical, nursing and midwifery fields is a population who are at great risk to develop sleep disruption and its subsequent physical and mental morbidity.AimThe aim of this study was to describe how sleep quality correlated to general health status among 280 health care students.Methods280 health care students studying in health related fields participated in this cross section study. Pittsburg sleep quality index (PSQI), sleep- wake questionnaire and the general health questionnaire (GHQ) administered to gather data describing sleep quality, sleep wake disruption and the general health status.ResultsPreliminary results showed that 61.4% of subjects defined as poor sleeper. In further co relational analysis there was a significant correlation between sleep quality and general health status (r = .6, p = . 000, n = 280). Regression analysis showed that number of nights with sleep disruption due to shift work or academic needs was a strong predictor for both poor sleep quality and general health status.ConclusionIn conclusion, Sleep disruption due to shift work or other academic demands is a predictor for poor sleep and its subsequent mental health morbidity, which should be considered as a part of mental health policy for health related college students.

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Does Self-reporting Facilitate History Taking in Food Poisoning Mass-casualty Incidents?

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x14000764 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 417-420 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ya-I Hsu ◽

Ying C. Huang

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Medical History ◽

Food Poisoning ◽

Mass Casualty ◽

Mass Casualty Incidents ◽

Control Group ◽

History Taking ◽

Care Providers ◽

Time Required ◽

Experimental Group

AbstractIntroductionMedical history is an important contributor to diagnosis and patient management. In mass-casualty incidents (MCIs), health care providers are often overwhelmed by large numbers of casualties. An efficient, reliable, and affordable method of information collection is essential for effective health care response.Hypothesis/ProblemIn some MCIs, self-reporting of symptoms can decrease the time required for history taking, without sacrificing the completeness of triage information.MethodsTwo resident doctors and a number of seventh graders who had previous experience of abdominal discomfort were invited to join this study. A questionnaire was developed to collect information on common symptoms in food poisoning. Each question was scored, and enrolled students were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group students answered the questionnaire first and then were interviewed to complete the medical history. The control group students were interviewed in the traditional way to collect medical history. Time of all interviews was measured and recorded. The time needed to complete the history taking and completeness of obtained information were compared with students’ t tests, or Mann-Whitney U tests, based on the normality of data. Comprehensibility of each question, scored by enrolled students, was reported by descriptive statistics.ResultsThere were 41 students enrolled: 22 in the experimental group and 19 in the control group. Time to complete history taking in the experimental group (163.0 seconds, SD=52.3) was shorter than that in the control group (198.7 seconds, SD=40.9) (P=.010). There was no difference in the completeness of history obtained between the experimental group and the control group (94.8%, SD=5.0 vs 94.2%, SD=6.1; P=.747). Between the two doctors, no significant difference was found in the time required for history taking (185.2 seconds, SD=42.2 vs 173.1 seconds, SD=58.6; P=.449), or the completeness of information (94.1%, SD=5.9 vs 95.0%, SD=5.0; P=.601). Most of the questions were scored “good” in comprehensibility.ConclusionSelf-reporting of symptoms can shorten the time of history taking during a food poisoning mass-casualty event without sacrificing the completeness of information.HsuY, HuangYC. Does self-reporting facilitate history taking in food poisoning mass-casualty incidents?Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(4):1-4.

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