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. 2021 Sep 21:9:700769.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.700769. eCollection 2021.

COVID-19 Critical Care Simulations: An International Cross-Sectional Survey

Mohamad-Hani Temsah  1   2 , Abdulkarim Alrabiaah  1   3 , Ayman Al-Eyadhy  1   2 , Fahad Al-Sohime  1   2   4 , Abdullah Al Huzaimi  1   5   6 , Nurah Alamro  1   7 , Khalid Alhasan  1   8 , Vaibhavi Upadhye  9 , Amr Jamal  1   7   10 , Fadi Aljamaan  1   11 , Ali Alhaboob  1   2 , Yaseen M Arabi  12   13   14 , Marc Lazarovici  15 , Ali M Somily  1   16 , Abdulaziz M Boker  17   18
Affiliations

COVID-19 Critical Care Simulations: An International Cross-Sectional Survey

Mohamad-Hani Temsah et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: To describe the utility and patterns of COVID-19 simulation scenarios across different international healthcare centers. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, international survey for multiple simulation centers team members, including team-leaders and healthcare workers (HCWs), based on each center's debriefing reports from 30 countries in all WHO regions. The main outcome measures were the COVID-19 simulations characteristics, facilitators, obstacles, and challenges encountered during the simulation sessions. Results: Invitation was sent to 343 simulation team leaders and multidisciplinary HCWs who responded; 121 completed the survey. The frequency of simulation sessions was monthly (27.1%), weekly (24.8%), twice weekly (19.8%), or daily (21.5%). Regarding the themes of the simulation sessions, they were COVID-19 patient arrival to ER (69.4%), COVID-19 patient intubation due to respiratory failure (66.1%), COVID-19 patient requiring CPR (53.7%), COVID-19 transport inside the hospital (53.7%), COVID-19 elective intubation in OR (37.2%), or Delivery of COVID-19 mother and neonatal care (19%). Among participants, 55.6% reported the team's full engagement in the simulation sessions. The average session length was 30-60 min. The debriefing process was conducted by the ICU facilitator in (51%) of the sessions followed by simulation staff in 41% of the sessions. A total of 80% reported significant improvement in clinical preparedness after simulation sessions, and 70% were satisfied with the COVID-19 sessions. Most perceived issues reported were related to infection control measures, followed by team dynamics, logistics, and patient transport issues. Conclusion: Simulation centers team leaders and HCWs reported positive feedback on COVID-19 simulation sessions with multidisciplinary personnel involvement. These drills are a valuable tool for rehearsing safe dynamics on the frontline of COVID-19. More research on COVID-19 simulation outcomes is warranted; to explore variable factors for each country and healthcare system.

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare preparedness; healthcare workers; international survey; simulations.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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