1787 ‘Skills and drills’: staff training sessions in the paediatric emergency department of a major trauma centre
Year: 2021
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Background The Scottish Trauma Network (STN) was set up to form four new Major Trauma Centres across Scotland. To prepare our paediatric ED for this a series of ‘Skills and Drills’ sessions were created by ED staff to cover a range of topics related to the practical care of a patient in a major trauma setting. Objectives The aim was to create safe, socially distanced teaching sessions with pre-reading materials that would enable staff to fulfil the Key Performance Indicators of a Major Trauma Centre in the midst of the global pandemic. Methods An initial six week pilot round of sessions was delivered and feedback sought from staff who had attended. This was taken into account and used to update the sessions. Staff chose from a selection of specific words to describe the sessions and were encouraged to add their own words that they perceived to be relevant. A ‘word cloud’ was created that visually highlighted the most commonly selected words. Staff were asked to provide a number out of 10 that described their knowledge of the topic covered in the session both before and after the session was delivered. Averages were then visualised in bar charts to represent the change in knowledge levels following sessions. Results A word cloud was created. The more times a word was chosen, the larger it was represented on the chart. Sessions were widely found to be practical, interactive and supportive. Average values for self-estimated knowledge levels out of 10 were represented in bar charts and are shown: Conclusions Common descriptors of the sessions included: ‘practical’, ‘interactive’, and ‘informative’. This suggests that sessions reduced cognitive load leaving more time for staff to assess patients in front of them. The bar charts show a subjective estimation of increased knowledge in every topic covered during the sessions Given the positive responses prompted by these initial sessions, it is hoped that similar sessions may be delivered by other departments in the hospital. The success of these trial sessions is an example of the benefits of an interactive, structured, face to face teaching programme that is achievable within the current constraints of social distancing.
Source: Abstracts
Author: Michael Burns
Institution: National Health Service
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W3202808819