An Evaluation of Education Methods Used to Train United States Air Force Air Medical Evacuation Crewmembers on Aircraft Systems.
Air Medical Journal · 2018-01-01 · Quasi-experimental
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: United States Air Force air medical evacuation crewmembers (AECMs) are responsible for the safe air medical evacuation of casualties in dynamic environments and must be highly proficient in the C-17, C-130H/J, and KC-135R/T aircraft. Current methods to train AECMs on their aircraft proficiency include computer-based simulation training (CBT) or instructor-based training (IBT) on an actual aircraft. This study compares the aircraft proficiency scores between AECMs who were trained via CBT and IBT methods. METHODS: An experimental prospective design was chosen, introducing the independent variable of CBT to the dependent variable of AECM aircraft system proficiency. Proficiency evaluation scores of the control group (n = 10) trained via IBT were compared against the scores of the intervention group (n = 10). RESULTS: A Mann-Whitney U test was conducted using a significance level of α = .05 and a confidence interval of 95%. The test revealed an exact significance 2-tailed P = .045 ≤ .05. AECMs trained via IBT had statistically higher aircraft proficiency evaluation scores than AECMs trained via CBT. CONCLUSION: These findings show that using IBT and a real aircraft to train AECMs is a superior training method versus CBT.