Children's Welfare Concern in a Full-scale Disaster Pediatric Drill

Abstract

Introduction:Children are almost systematically involved in mass casualty events, especially in the context of terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the emergency medical responder preparedness is quite often low when it comes to pediatrics, on both technical and emotional sides. Preliminary training is indispensable, and full-scale simulations are arguably the best solution to tackle the needs of the first responders. The purpose of the study was to describe a simulation-based pediatric training with pediatric psychological support set up for the drill.Method:A full-scale exercise involving children between five and fifteen years old was conducted in the Toulouse municipal stadium during the preparation of the 2016 UEFA (European Football Championship) in France. As children welfare was the primary concern, a psychological support team was present at each stage of the drill and assessed any mental harm that could have happened. Children were asked about their feelings at the end of the exercise with a 5-point Likert rating scale and their parents had to report any perceived changes in the following week.Results:Out of 16 children participating in the drill, four were in an immediate situation (P1), four were in an emergent situation (P2), and eight were in an urgent situation (P3). One hundred percent of them rated their experience as very good and expressed no stress to their parents in the week that followed, and no harm was detected by the psychological support team during the exercise.Conclusion:The results of the study show that involving children as victims in pediatric disaster drills is possible in these conditions without impacting the mental welfare of children.