The effectiveness of visually enhanced mental simulation in triage management of paramedic program students

Among the duties of paramedics is to triage in incidents involving many casualties. Paramedics receive triage training in their under-graduation education. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of scenario-based virtually enhanced mental simulation (VEMS) method on triage management of paramedic (primary and emergency aid program) students. The research was conducted as a quasi-experimental design pretest-posttest in one group. The population of the study consists of 88 students who have to attend the 2nd grade Emergency Practices course of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Hatay Health Services Vocational School Primary and Emergency Aid program. The study was conducted with 20 students, who met including criterias of the study and were volunteer. Pre-evaluation session, simulation session and final evaluation sessions were held to evaluate VEMS effectiveness betweeen 06 October-17 October 2020. When the pre-evaluation and final evaluation sessions are compared in line with the findings obtained from the study, it is seen that there is a statistically significant increase in the steps of students giving the yellow, black and red triage code (p <0.05). As a result of the findings of the study, it is seen that the VEMS method is effective in triage management in paramedic program students. It is recommended to use of VEMS in the training of paramedic students, since the Visually Enhanced Mental Simulation method is cheap, requires less personnel, requires less equipment, and can be applied face to face and online. Keywords: Visually Enhanced Mental Simulation, triage management, simulation, paramedic, prehospital emergency care