Learning Outcome Measurement in Nurse Participants After Disaster Training
Abstract
The National Disaster Health Consortium is an interprofessional disaster training program. Using the Hierarchical Learning Framework of Competency Sets in Disaster Medicine and Public Health, this program educates nurses and other professionals to provide competent care and leadership within the interprofessional team. This study examined outcomes of this training.
Training consisted of a combination of online and on-site training. Learning outcomes were measured by using the Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ) pre/post training and participant performance during live functional exercises with the use of rubrics based on Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation principles.
A total of 64 participants completed the EPIQ before and after training. The mean EPIQ pre-training score of 154 and mean post-training score of 81 (reverse-scored) was found to be statistically significant by paired t-test (P<0.001). Performance was evaluated in the areas of triage, re-triage, surge response, and sheltering. Greater than 90% of the exercise criteria were either met or partially met. Participants successfully achieved overall objectives in all scenarios.
Disaster response requires nurses and other providers to function in interprofessional teams. Educational projects, like the National Disaster Health Consortium program, offer the potential to address the need for a standardized, interprofessional disaster training curriculum to promote positive outcomes.
