FeatureOriginal ResearchSimulation-Based Training in Mountain Helicopter Emergency Medical Service: A Multidisciplinary Team Training Concept
Section snippets
Setting
Simulation took place at the newly built mountain rescue training center (Bergwacht - Zentrum für Sicherheit und Ausbildung, BW-ZSA) in Bad Tölz, Germany.6 Dedicated education and training facilities were adapted to the field of mountain rescue for the first time worldwide. The centerpiece of BW-ZSA is a helicopter rescue simulation unit; a specially developed crane unit suspends a full-scale mock-up helicopter fuselage (Eurocopter, BK117), allowing it to “fly” within the approximately
Results
Forty questionnaires (questionnaire response rate = 100%) were evaluated regarding pre- and posttraining self-evaluation. On a scale ranging from 1 (best) to 6 (worst), the overall rating of the training was 1.04. Also, the multidisciplinary approach was highly esteemed, with a gradual rating of 1.3 ± 0.64.
The results of the self-evaluation show that participants felt they could improve their skills in all safety-related attitudes (Table 2). Accordingly, improved self-perception of competence
Discussion
This is the first study reporting data of multidisciplinary simulation-based team training in mountain HEMS based on prospective self-assessment. We demonstrated the feasibility of dedicated mountain HEMS simulation and the improvement in self-estimated competence and awareness in HF/TRM items.
The demand for training in complex environments is commonly underestimated.8 Attention to nontechnical skills in acute care medicine, especially in anesthesiology, arose in the 1990s,9 some 20 years after
Conclusion
Simulation-based training can contribute to real-life patient safety, as indicated by different studies demonstrating improved morbidity and mortality after the initiation of in situ simulation training. Even in a multidisciplinary setting such as alpine HEMS, simulation-based training is feasible and improves self-estimated competence and awareness of HFs and TRM regarding a complex medical setting. Thus, simulation-based training in mountain HEMS might ameliorate patient outcome and improve
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