Educating emergency medical staffs in triage skills is an important aspect of disaster preparedness. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of role-playing and educational video presentation on the learning and performance of the emergency medical service staffs in Khozestan, Iran

A total of 144 emergency technicians were randomly classified into two groups. A researcher trained the first group using an educational video method and the second group with a role-playing method. Data were collected before, immediately, and 15 days after training using a questionnaire covering the three domains of demographic information, triage knowledge, and triage performance. The data were analyzed using defined knowledge and performance parameters.

There was no significant difference between the two training methods on performance and immediate knowledge (P = .2), lasting knowledge (P=.05) and immediate performance (P = .35), but there was a statistical advantage for the role-playing method on lasting performance (P = .02).

The two educational methods equally increase knowledge and performance, but the role-playing method may have a more desirable and lasting effect on performance.

AghababaeianH, SedaghatS, TaheryN, Sadeghi MoghaddamA, ManieiM, BahramiN, Araghi AhvaziL. A Comparative Study of the Effect of Triage Training by Role-Playing and Educational Video on the Knowledge and Performance of Emergency Medical Service Staffs in Iran. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013;28(6):1-5.