Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: May 21, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: May 28, 2018 - Aug 3, 2018
Date Accepted: Mar 12, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
A randomized control trial of the impact of an electronic application on resident responses to simulated in-flight medical emergencies
ABSTRACT
Background:
Healthcare providers are often called to respond to in-flight medical emergencies (IFMEs), but lack familiarity with expected supplies, interventions, and ground medical control support.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to determine whether a smartphone application (airRx) improves responses to simulated IFMEs.
Methods:
This was a randomized study of volunteer, non-emergency resident physician subjects who managed simulated IFMEs with or without the app. Simulations took place in a mock-up cabin in the simulation center. Standardized participants (SPs) played the patient, family member, and flight attendant roles. Live, non-blinded rating was used with occasional video review for data clarification. Subjects participated in two simulated IFMEs (shortness of breath-SOB, syncope-SYN) and were evaluated with checklists (CL) and global ratings scales (GRS). CL item success rates, key critical action times, GRS, and pre-post simulation confidence in managing IFMEs were compared.
Results:
There were 29 subjects in each arm (app versus control) of the study. Mean percentages of completed CL items for the app versus control groups were 56.1 ± 10.3 vs. 49.4 ± 7.4 for SOB (p < 0.05) and 58 ± 8.1 vs. 49.8 ± 7.0 for SYN (p < 0.05). The GRS improved with the app for SYN case (3.14 ± 0.89 vs control 2.6 ± 0.97, p < 0.05), but not the SOB case (2.90 ± 0.97 vs control 2.81 ± 0.80, p = 0.43). For timed checklist items, the app group contacted ground support faster for both cases, but the control group was faster to complete vitals and basic exam. Both groups indicated higher confidence in their post-simulation surveys, but the app group demonstrated a greater increase in this measure.
Conclusions:
Use of the airRx app prompted some actions, but delayed others. Simulated performance and feedback suggest the app is a useful adjunct for managing IFMEs. Clinical Trial: Not applicable
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.