A Region-Wide All-Hazard Training Program for Prehospital Mass Casualty Incident Management: A Real-World Case Study. (1st April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carenzo, Luca; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Foti, Francesco; Albergoni, Enzo; Colombo, Davide; Sechi, Giuseppe Maria; Zoli, Alberto; Sironi, Stefano
• Is Part Of: Disaster medicine and public health preparedness. Volume 17(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-04-01
• Subjects: disaster medicine -- education -- emergency medical services -- mass casualty incident -- simulation -- training; Disaster medicine -- Periodicals; Emergency management -- Planning -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 363.34
• DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2022.84
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1935-7893

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: We report the development, implementation, and results of a sustainable region-wide mass-casualty management prehospital training program implemented by the Regione Lombardia emergency medical services (EMS) agency AREU in Italy. Methods: The educational program learning objectives are: (1) command and control, communications, and resource management; (2) mass casualty triage and the START triage protocol; (3) on-scene management; (4) Regione Lombardia and AREU Mass Casualty standard operating procedures; and (5) inter-agency communications and relations. For each course edition data on participants' summative assessment, participants' feedback and costs were collected. Results: Between June 26, 2013, and December 31, 2020, a total of 84 editions of the provider training event were delivered, training an overall 1329 prehospital providers; 1239 (93%) passed the summative assessment and were qualified as being operationally "ready." Regarding participant feedback, the overall program was rated 4.4 ± 0.7 out of 5. The overall cost of running the provider program during the study period was €321 510 (circa US $382 000). The average cost per edition was €3828 and €242 per participant. Conclusions: We have described a simple yet interactive simulation and blended-learning approach, which has yielded good pass rates, good participant satisfaction, and contained costs to systematically train emergency medical service personnel.