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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Jul 5;13(7):e0199747.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199747. eCollection 2018.

The effectiveness of an on-line training program for improving knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation of healthcare workers: A randomized controlled trial

Paul H Lee  1 , Baoguo Fu  2   3 , Wangting Cai  2 , Jingya Chen  2 , Zhenfei Yuan  2 , Lifen Zhang  2 , Xiuhong Ying  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effectiveness of an on-line training program for improving knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation of healthcare workers: A randomized controlled trial

Paul H Lee et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Hospitals are vulnerable to fires and the evacuation process is challenging. However, face-to-face fire prevention and evacuation training may take healthcare workers' time away from patient care; therefore, effective on-line training may be warranted. We carried out and examined the effectiveness of an on-line education and training of fire prevention and evacuation training for healthcare workers in China by a randomized controlled trial using convenience sampling from five public hospitals in China.

Methods: A total of 128 participants were recruited between December 2014 and March 2015. The authors built a webpage that included the informed consent statement, pre-test questionnaire, video training, and post-test questionnaire. After completing the pre-test questionnaire, participants were randomly assigned to watch the intervention video (basic response to a hospital fire) or the control video (introduction to volcanic disasters). A 45-item questionnaire on knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation was administered before and after the video watching. This questionnaire were further divided into two subscales (25-item generic knowledge of fire response and 20-item hospital-specific knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation). One point was awarded for each correct answer.

Results: Half of the participants (n = 64, 50%) were randomized into the intervention group and the remaining 64 (50%) were randomized into the control group. For generic knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation, those in the intervention group improved significantly (from 16.16 to 20.44, P < 0.001) while the scores of those in the control group decreased significantly (from 15.27 to 13.70, P = 0.03). For hospital-specific knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation, those in the intervention group (from 10.75 to 11.33, P = 0.15) and the control group (from 10.38 to 10.16, P = 0.54) had insignificant change. For total score, those in the intervention group improved significantly (from 26.91 to 31.77, P < 0.001) while those in the control group decreased insignificantly (from 25.64 to 23.86, P = 0.07). After the intervention, the difference between the scores of the intervention group and the control group on all three knowledge areas of fire prevention and evacuation (generic, hospital-specific, and total) were significant (all Ps < 0.05).

Conclusions: An on-line fire training program delivered via educational video can effectively improve healthcare workers' knowledge of fire prevention and evacuation.

Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02438150.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Index page of the intervention webpage.
Fig 2
Fig 2. CONSORT diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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