title: Highly realistic, immersive training for navy corpsmen: preliminary results.
abstract: Highly realistic, immersive training has been developed for Navy corpsmen based on the success of the Infantry Immersion Trainer. This new training is built around scenarios that are designed to depict real-life, operational situations. Each scenario used in the training includes sights, sounds, smells, and distractions to simulate realistic and challenging combat situations. The primary objective of this study was to assess corpsmen participants' satisfaction with highly realistic training. The study sample consisted of 434 male Navy service members attending Field Medical Training Battalion-West, Camp Pendleton, California. Corpsmen participants completed surveys after receiving the training. Participants expressed high levels of satisfaction with the training overall and with several specific elements of the training. The element of the training that the corpsmen rated the highest was the use of live actors. The vast majority of the participants reported that the training had increased their overall confidence about being successful corpsmen and had strengthened their confidence in their ability to provide care under pressure. Additional research should extend highly realistic training to other military medical provider populations.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences and Epidemiology Department, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, CA 92106-3521.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Booth-Kewley
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences and Epidemiology Department, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, CA 92106-3521.
authors.forename: Stephanie K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: McWhorter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007101:Immersion; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000193:education*; D009326:Naval Medicine; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare; D055815:Young Adult