Introduction: Trauma is the leading cause of death and disability in children. Differences in mechanism, injury pattern, severity, and physiology in this population distinguish pediatric trauma patients from adults. Educational techniques including simulation and didactics may improve pediatric readiness in this setting. We summarize the literature across disciplines, highlighting the curricular approaches, target provider population, educational content, content delivery method, and Kirkpatrick level for pediatric trauma resuscitation education.
Methods: The MEDLINE (via Ovid), Embase (via Elsevier), Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature Complete (via EBSCO), Education Database (via ProQuest), and Web of Science Social Science Citation Index and Science Citation Index (via Clarivate) were searched. We reviewed 90 manuscripts describing pediatric trauma resuscitation education programs. When available, target provider population, curricular content, delivery method, and Kirkpatrick level were obtained.
Results: Nurses (50%), residents (45%), and attending physicians (43%) were the most common participants. Airway management (25%), shock (25%), and general trauma (25%) were the most frequently taught concepts, and delivery of content was more frequently via simulation (65%) or didactics (52%). Most studies (39%) were Kirkpatrick Level 1.
Conclusions: This review suggests that diverse strategies exist to promote pediatric readiness. Most training programs are interdisciplinary and use a variety of educational techniques. However, studies infrequently report examining the impact of educational interventions on patient-centered outcomes and lack detail in describing their curriculum. Future educational efforts would benefit from heightened attention to such outcome measures and a rigorous description of their curricula to allow for reproducibility.
Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Education; Pediatric; Trauma resuscitation.
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