Mapping the use of simulation in prehospital care : a literature review.

• Background:High energy trauma is rare and, as a result, training of prehospital care providers often takes placeduring the real situation, with the patient as the object for the learning process. Such training could instead becarried out in the context of simulation, out of danger for both patients and personnel. The aim of this study wasto provide an overview of the development and foci of research on simulation in prehospital care practice.Methods:An integrative literature review were used. Articles based on quantitative as well as qualitative researchmethods were included, resulting in a comprehensive overview of existing published research. For publishedarticles to be included in the review, the focus of the article had to be prehospital care providers, in prehospitalsettings. Furthermore, included articles must target interventions that were carried out in a simulation context.Results:The volume of published research is distributed between 1984- 2012 and across the regions North America,Europe, Oceania, Asia and Middle East. The simulation methods used were manikins, films, images or paper, live actors,animals and virtual reality. The staff categories focused upon were paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs),medical doctors (MDs), nurse and fire fighters. The main topics of published research on simulation with prehospitalcare providers included: Intubation, Trauma care, Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Ventilation and Triage.Conclusion:Simulation were described as a positive training and education method for prehospital medical staff. Itprovides opportunities to train assessment, treatment and implementation of procedures and devices under realisticconditions. It is crucial that the staff are familiar with and trained on the identified topics, i.e., intubation, trauma care,CPR, ventilation and triage, which all, to a very large degree, constitute prehospital care. Simulation plays an integralrole in this. The current state of prehospital care, which this review reveals, includes inadequate skills of prehospital staffregarding ventilation and CPR, on both children and adults, the lack of skills in paediatric resuscitation and the lack ofknowledge in assessing and managing burns victims. These circumstances suggest critical areas for further training andresearch, at both local and global levels

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Simulation

Prehospital

Systematic literature review

Omvårdnad

Nursing Science

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)