Emergency medical technicians' disaster training by tabletop exercise

The objective of this study was to assess the attitudes of emergency medica l technicians (EMTs) toward tabletop drills to determine the effect of tabl etop simulation on the EMT student perception of disaster preparedness and management. In November 1998 and April 1999, 59 firefighters underwent 260 hours of EMT intermediate level training at the National Cheng Kung Univers ity Hospital in Tainan, Taiwan. All participants had experience in field di saster exercise training before they attended this EMT training course. The EMT courses included a disaster and mass-casuality incident program. A 9-i tem questionnaire was completed by the 59 EMTs before (for field exercise) and after undergoing the tabletop drills. The results of the survey reveale d that the field operation exercise could not provide adequate provisions t o link the results of disaster exercises to appropriate changes in terms of training, equipment, supplies, and plans. Field operation failed to show t he ability of others to fill in during the absence of key officials. Tablet op drilling provided better performance for these 2 issues. Tabletop exerci se also provided a better chance than field exercise to evaluate the respon se without the use of telephones, which are not always reliable in real eme rgency situation. For disaster exercises, limitations of field operation dr ills such as communications, coordination, assignment of responsibilities, and postevent mitigation priorities were noted, and tabletop drills provide d additional benefits for these settings. Large-scale effect evaluation of different drills may be necessary to design future disaster preparedness pr ograms. (Am J Emerg Med 2001;19:433-436. Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunder s Company).