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a Multidisciplinary Disaster
Simulation for Undergraduate Nursing Students
IMPLEMENTING
S H A R O N W. H U T C H I N S O N , S H E I L A H AY N E S , PA M E L A PA R K E R ,
MUST
BE
A B L E TO
R E S P O N D TO
THIS ARTICLE FOCUSES SPECIFICALLY ON DISASTER PREPAREDNESS TRAINING FOR UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS.
AND
W O D A J O W E L L D A R E G AY
RESEARCH
2 4 0 N u r s i n g E d u c a t i o n Pe r s p e c t i v e s
Curriculum Enhancement
D I S A S T E R S I M U L AT I O N / N U R S I N G E D U C AT I O N R E S E A R C H
ASSIGNED ROLE
Level I / Sophomore
Level II / Junior
Direct Victims
HOSPITAL
Emergent Red
Urgent Yellow
Non-urgent Green
Black Expectant
Care may be delayed two hours or more; transport after red and
NA
Table 3. Mean Pretest and Posttest Scores for Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Nursing Students
Nursing Student Level
Pretest
SEM
Mean
Posttest
SEM
Mean
Sophomore
26
60.97*
3.12
95.60*
1.73
Junior
31
54.81
1.99
93.52
1.97
Senior
24
49.97*
2.72
85.70*
3.54
________
*Significant difference between means
A multidisciplinary approach (Dyer, 2003) was used in developing the disaster simulation. Weekly faculty planning sessions
were scheduled to address all details. Faculty also collaborated
with university security personnel, information technology and
telecommunication staff, and members of the local fire department regarding the best way to implement the simulation on the
university campus.
Students were assigned to one of five disaster response
teams: a) University Emergency Response Team, b) Triage
Team, c) Emergency Department Team, d) Victims (direct and
indirect), and e) Evaluators. Assignments were based on the
disaster preparedness content students had received in their
nursing courses and their level of undergraduate nursing preparation. Three weeks prior to the simulation, students selected
specific roles by drawing from a deck of labeled index cards.
They then had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with
their roles during didactic sessions and in-class learning activ-
July / August Vo l . 3 2 N o . 4 2 4 1
D I S A S T E R S I M U L AT I O N / N U R S I N G E D U C AT I O N R E S E A R C H
2 4 2 N u r s i n g E d u c a t i o n Pe r s p e c t i v e s
Nurse faculty supervisors were also assigned to each area, to maintain the flow of the simulation and resolve potential problems.
Implementation of the Simulation and Debriefing
D I S A S T E R S I M U L AT I O N / N U R S I N G E D U C AT I O N R E S E A R C H
Eighty-one nursing
students participated in a multidisciplinary disaster simulation
that also involved public health and psychology majors. The ecourse, Terrorism, Preparedness and Public Health: An
Introduction, Lesson 1, was used as a pretest to determine students knowledge of bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. All nursing students completed lessons 1 and 4.
Nursing students were then provided with classroom didactic,
CDC training videos, role-playing exercises, and CAI learning
activities in preparation for the multidisciplinary drill. A
posttest was administered one week prior to the simulation.
The majority of the seniors were able to correctly triage victims using the START (Super, 1984) and emergency room triage
methods (Veenema, 2003). While pretest/posttest scores indicate a significant increase in knowledge gained regarding
bioterrorism, sophomore nursing students had higher pretest
and posttest scores than junior- and senior-level nursing stu-
References
Allender, J. A., & Spradley, B. W. (2005). Community
health nursing: Promoting and protecting the publics
health (6th ed.). New York: Lippincott.
Dyer, J. A. (2003). Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary,
and transdisciplinary educational models and nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 24(4),
186-188.
Lewis, S. M., Heitkemper, M. M., & Dirksen, S. R.
(2004). Medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO:
Saunders.
NLN
Key Words
July / August Vo l . 3 2 N o . 4 2 4 3
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