#221 PEM adventures: enhancing paediatric emergency education by integration of narrative and simulation for interactive learning

<h3>Introduction</h3> Narrative theory states that stories allow learners to contextualise education in a way that is valid to them. Simulation-based education is an effective teaching modality, correlating with improved clinical performance. We sought to validate a combination of narrative theory and simulation-based education in Paediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) education. <h3>Methods</h3> We delivered an interactive simulation-based session at the Irish PEM (IPEM24) conference. Trauma team management of a child with significant injuries was simulated on stage. Using live voting technology, the audience voted for next management steps in four elements of the case. Each vote was linked to recent publications (table 1). To increase fidelity, a 7-year-old child simulated the patient (‘Harry’). To assess its educational value, we emailed an online questionnaire to attendees six weeks after the conference, repeating the same four questions and assessing practice-changing behaviour. <h3>Results</h3> Between 80 and 88 live-vote responses per interactive question were captured during the session. Thirty-six attendees (41%) completed the post-conference survey at six weeks. The proportion of correct live scores pre-education was low for questions 1 and 2, indicating low baseline knowledge, and high for questions 3 and 4. The proportion of correct scores at six weeks was compared. Improvement was significant for questions 1 and 2 where pre-education knowledge was low (p&lt;0.05) (table 2).Of the seven attendees who had managed paediatric trauma in the six weeks post-session, five (71%) said the evidence taught changed their practice. Twenty-nine respondents (80%) felt that the session would result in a change in their trauma practice in the future. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Our results demonstrate that by combining narrative, simulation and learner interaction, educators can engage learners in paediatric trauma education, improve knowledge in areas with low, pre-education knowledge, and generate practice-changing behaviour. Combining storytelling via simulation with audience participation makes an educational session incredibly powerful.