Simulation Training in Surge Capacity Management Using the Disastermed.Ca Emergency Department Simulator

Introduction: Surge capacity has become an increasingly important issue in emergency and disaster medicine, however, standardized methods of teaching surge capacity have not yet been developed. The use of the disastermed.ca emergency department simulator may be an effective tool for teaching the management of surge capacity. Methods: Students of the eighth edition of the European Master in Disaster Medicine were assigned randomly into two equal-sized groups. Each of the two groups performed the simulation simultaneously, with two identical hospital layouts from the disastermed.ca simulator. Students were encouraged to look for innovative solutions to surge capacity. Results: Twenty-eight participants participated in the exercise. Both groups developed similar approaches to increasing surge capacity including activating the hospital’s disaster plan, developing an Incident Command System organizational structure, requesting additional staff, and requesting additional inpatient beds. There was a significant difference in mean time from patient arrival to triage between the two groups (p <0.01), however, accuracy of triage was similar. All of the respondents felt the simulation was a valuable learning experience. All respondents stated that they would prefer a simulation-based curriculum to a purely lecture-based curriculum. The median rating when asked to rate the exercise overall was 8/10 (range = 5–10). When asked to rate how effectively the exercise simulated the emergency department and emergency response activities, median rating was 7/10 (range = 4–10).When asked to rate how well the scenario adequately tested the readiness and capability to implement the disaster plan, mean rating was 7/10 (range = 4–10). Conclusions: Participant satisfaction following computerized simulation in surge capacity training was high. All respondents felt that the exercise was a valuable learning experience, and all stated that they preferred the combination of simulation and lecture to a pure ly lecture-based curriculum.