Preparing for Burn Disasters: Evaluation of a Continuing Education Training Course for Pre-hospital and Hospital Professionals in Kansas

"Preparing for Burn Disasters: A Training Course for Pre-Hospital and Hospital Professionals in Kansas," a continuing education program designed to provide licensed health care practitioners a training opportunity for multiple burn victim incidents, emphasized the challenges that the community-wide multidisciplinary team faces when responding to burn disasters. A pre-post survey design was used to assess changes in participants' knowledge and self-rated ability, confidence, and competence to perform in a burn disaster before and after training. Participants (N = 383) were predominantly female (71.1%), 40 years or older (57.7%), nurses (52.2%), were employed in a pre-hospital care setting (38%), and had worked in healthcare for 10 years or fewer (53.6%). The percentage of correct responses pre- vs post-test increased between 30% and 65% on two-thirds of the knowledge items. On the basis of paired-samples t-test analysis, statistically significant increases in participants' overall self-ratings of ability and confidence in burn management were observed in every content area. Most participants (64%) felt competent or highly competent to manage multiple burn casualties after the training program, and most participants (58%) indicated that they intended to incorporate the newly acquired knowledge into their daily practice within 2 weeks. Evaluation results demonstrate that a successful program was designed and implemented. The curriculum and teaching methods achieved desired goals for improved knowledge, which appear to have been translated to enhanced abilities, confidence and competence in burn assessment and treatment modalities.