Evaluating the Effectiveness of Trauma Care and Emergency Preparedness Training Programs on Prehospital Primary Survey Skills: A Systematic Review.

This systematic review evaluates the impact of trauma care and emergency preparedness training programs on prehospital primary survey effectiveness. A comprehensive search strategy was employed across multiple databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and the Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), focusing on studies involving healthcare professionals such as paramedics, nurses, and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). The review included randomized controlled trials (RCTs), clinical trials, and cohort studies that assessed various training modalities like virtual reality (VR) simulations, case-based learning (CBL), and hands-on workshops. Quality assessment was performed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias (RoB) tool for randomized trials and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for clinical trials, ensuring methodological rigor and consistency. The findings suggest that CBL significantly improves knowledge retention and prehospital primary survey skills, outperforming other methods such as simulation exercises, which showed mixed results. VR training increased confidence levels but did not demonstrate significant improvements in objective skills compared to traditional methods. The use of supplementary triage assistance teams (physician-nurse supplementary triage team (MDRNSTAT)) was found to be effective during high patient volume hours, though not cost-effective as a daytime strategy. While the review highlights the importance of interactive and scenario-based training programs, limitations such as variability in study designs, publication bias, and language bias were noted, suggesting that caution should be exercised in generalizing the results. Future research should focus on long-term effectiveness, the integration of emerging technologies, and larger, well-designed trials across diverse healthcare settings to strengthen the evidence base.