Effectiveness of Tabletop Exercise Training in Triage for Medical Personnel: A Systematic Review

Mass casualty incidents require a rapid and coordinated response from medical personnel, where triage is a critical skill. Tabletop exercise training has emerged as an innovative method to enhance triage skills by providing a safe, risk-free environment for scenario-based practice. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of tabletop exercise training in improving triage skills among medical personnel. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in March 2024 across the following databases: ScienceDirect, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, and Cochrane. The search strategy included combinations of the following terms:
• “Tabletop exercise” AND “triage”
• “Tabletop simulation” AND “emergency preparedness”
• “Triage training” OR “disaster drill”
• “Medical personnel” AND and “simulation-based learning”
Boolean operators and or were used to refine the search results. Inclusion criteria covered studies published between 2014 and 2024 involving medical personnel trained in triage. The primary outcomes measured included improvements in triage accuracy, response time, decision-making, and teamwork. Out of 178 articles identified, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate that tabletop exercises (TTX) significantly improve triage accuracy, reduce response times, and foster better teamwork and communication among healthcare providers. TTX are an effective training method for enhancing triage skills in medical personnel and should be integrated into regular training programs to improve preparedness for real-world emergencies.

Keywords: Tabletop exercise, triage training, medical personnel, systematic review, emergency preparedness