Study/Objective: In this study, we aimed to design a questionnaire battery for course and simulation exercise evaluation, and pilot-test the battery by evaluating a course on Advanced Prehospital Trauma Care (APTC).

Background: Many course evaluations suffer from simplistic metrics, such as whether the course participants “enjoyed” the course. In contrast, the current study sought to measure (self-estimated) pre- and post-course knowledge, relevant to specific learning objectives, as well as questions pertaining to specific factors of the simulation exercises used in the course (eg, fidelity/realism, learning objective fit, transferability of tools/procedures, usefulness, among others) were selected based on simulation theory and simulation-based training literature.

Methods: Data were collected during a course on APTC. Twelve students participated. The mean professional experience was 15.5 years. The participants completed an informed consent form prior to the study. They completed a pre-course questionnaire, a post-course questionnaire, and a course evaluation form.

Results: The mean self-estimated improvement in theoretical knowledge pertaining to the course objectives was 8.23 on a 0 to 10 scale, and 8.25 for practical skills. Greatest improvement was in advanced airway management, physiological reactions to hypothermia, pneumothorax interventions, special considerations for patients injured by explosives (eg, blast injuries and burns), and medical decision making during an active shooter scenario. The evaluation of the simulation exercises received high marks (mean rating 4.53 [3.92-4.92] out of 5.0) on all aspects. The participants rated the overall course quality at 4.67 (on a 0 to 5 scale), with the simulations, practical exercises, and the structure of moving from theory to practice being mentioned as particularly positive.

Conclusion: Overall, the results showed that the APTC course received high marks on almost all measured factors. Further validation of the questionnaires is needed before general implementation of the battery can be recommended. Such implementation would benefit diverse course development and quality assurance