Medical Reserve Corps Volunteers’ Characteristics Affect Disaster Survival

Medical Reserve Corps' volunteers underwent stop-the-bleed, triage, and disaster preparedness training to improve victim survival of a mass casualty event. Volunteer responses to 16 disaster vignettes were recorded as 'survived' if correct, or 'died' if incorrect. Volunteers...

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Published in:Disaster medicine and public health preparedness 2023-05, Vol.17, p.e391-e391, Article e391
Main Authors: Brannen, Donald E, Howell, Melissa, Bidigare, Cecilia M, Shuster, Jaime L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chronic illnesses
Disaster Planning
Disasters
Emergency preparedness
First aid
Health behavior
Humans
Injuries
Mass Casualty Incidents
Medical screening
Mental health
Organizations
Original Research
Pandemics
Personal grooming
Public Health
Survival
Terrorism
Training
Trauma
Trauma centers
Triage
Volunteers
Volunteers - education
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Summary:Medical Reserve Corps' volunteers underwent stop-the-bleed, triage, and disaster preparedness training to improve victim survival of a mass casualty event. Volunteer responses to 16 disaster vignettes were recorded as 'survived' if correct, or 'died' if incorrect. Volunteers' characteristics were evaluated based on the health outcomes of the vignette victims via logistic regression. Overall, 69 volunteers evaluated 1104 vignette victims. STB training significantly improved survival from 77.2% to 93.2% ( < 0.001). The training did not improve disaster preparedness (75.5% to 73%) nor triage (33.5% to 35.1%). Volunteer first care provider training in psychological first aid improved victim survival from 10.32 (9.6 - 10.9, 95% CI) to 11.9 (11.28 - 12.5, 95% CI). The odds of survival increased when disaster victims received first care from a volunteer who had a positive perception of the public authority's truthfulness (1.50, range 1.07 - 2.10); stated a willingness to volunteer (1.65, range 1.2 - 2.26); completed psychological first aid training (1.557, range 1.08 - 2.22); or had 4-or-more years of post-secondary education (1.30, range 1.00 - 1.701). Psychological first aid training should be a basic requirement for disaster volunteers. Trust in public authority to provide protective public health recommendations increases disaster survival.
ISSN:1935-7893
1938-744X
DOI:10.1017/dmp.2023.60