Implementing healthcare professionals' training during COVID-19: a pre and post-test design for simulation training.

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has imposed a new reality that presents several challenges for healthcare professionals. The main challenge has been the lack of proper training in relation to an unknown disease.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate healthcare professionals' acquisition of knowledge of a new airway management protocol for COVID-19 through their participation in simulation training.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Pre and post-test study with purpose sampling, carried out in a tertiary-level hospital in the city of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional pre and post-test intervention among healthcare professionals working in the intensive care unit and emergency department of a large hospital. The training was carried out using an in situ simulation scenario and the participants answered pre and post-tests consisting of a 20-item questionnaire about the new protocol.

RESULTS

The paired-sample t test demonstrated that there was a significant increase in test score (t = -19.06; P < 0.001), from before the training (M = 8.62; standard deviation, SD = 3.53) to after the simulation training (M = 17.02; SD = 1.76).

CONCLUSIONS

The simulated training had a positive impact on the healthcare professionals' acquisition of the COVID-19 protocol. We also demonstrated that in situ simulation training was an efficient tool for implementing new protocols, thus bringing benefits to healthcare systems, professionals and patients.