Abstract
Introduction: Pre-hospital triage is one of the most fundamental concepts in emergency management. Limited human resource changes triage to an inevitable solution in the management of disasters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of education of simple triage and rapid treatment (START) in the knowledge and practice of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) employees of Eastern Azerbaijan. Methods: This is a pre-and post-intervention study conducted on two hundred and five (205) of employees of EMS sector, in the disaster and emergency management center of Eastern Azerbaijan Province, 2015. The utilized tool is a questionnaire of the knowledge and practice of individuals regarding START triage. The questionnaire was filled by the participants pre- and post-education; thereafter the data were analyzed using SPSS 13 software. Results: The total score of the participants increased from 22.02 (4.49) to 28.54 (3.47). Moreover, the score of sections related to knowledge of the triage was a necessity and the mean score of the section related to the practice increased from 11.47 (2.15) to 13.63 (1.38), and 10.73 (3.57) to 14.93 (2.78), respectively, which were statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that holding the educational classes of pre-hospital triage before the disasters is effective in improving the knowledge and practice of employees such as EMS technicians and this resulted to decreased error in performing this process as well as reduced overload in hospitals.
Highlights
Pre-hospital triage is one of the most fundamental concepts in emergency management
The mean scores related to awareness of the necessity of triage in pre and post-test was 11.47 (2.15) and 13.63 (1.38), respectively
Our study revealed that education relatively has an important role in improving the knowledge and performance of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) employees considering pre-hospital simple triage and rapid treatment (START) triage during disasters, with the scores of the participants have a significant difference between the pre- and post-test
Summary
Pre-hospital triage is one of the most fundamental concepts in emergency management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of education of simple triage and rapid treatment (START) in the knowledge and practice of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) employees of Eastern Azerbaijan. Methods: This is a pre-and post-intervention study conducted on two hundred and five (205) of employees of EMS sector, in the disaster and emergency management center of Eastern Azerbaijan Province, 2015. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that holding the educational classes of prehospital triage before the disasters is effective in improving the knowledge and practice of employees such as EMS technicians and this resulted to decreased error in performing this process as well as reduced overload in hospitals. As other quick triage protocols, it has some limitations including negligence of the injury mechanism, limited assessment, and failure to monitor patients with a mild or moderate injury, whose transfer is delayed.[9]
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