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Development of a disaster preparedness curriculum for medical students: A pilot study of incorporating local events into training opportunities
Abstract
Contemporary disasters, like the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, have piqued the interest of medical students in disaster preparedness. The topic is also a requirement of undergraduate medical education.(1) Yet current literature suggests that disaster preparedness education is lacking. Our objective was to pilot a curriculum to augment medical students' disaster preparedness education by marshalling local resources to provide practical hands-on experiences.
This pilot curriculum consisted of lectures; simulations; asynchronous learning materials; a large-scale, regional disaster exercise; and preparation for and participation in a real-time mass gathering. Outcomes were measured by student performance on written tests and evaluations of each activity.
Academic Health Center with associated medical school.
Fifty-two medical students participated in at least one of the six activities during this voluntary pilot program. Premedical students and residents (n = 57) participated in some activities.
Forty-one medical students took either the pretest or the post-test over the curriculum. Only eight students took both. A paired t test comparing pretest to post-test scores using imputed missing data (t = -11.72, df = 40, p ≤ 0.001) was consistent with an analysis using only complete data (t = -2.35, df = 7, p = 0.05), implying that student scores improved significantly over time. Evaluations indicated a student preference for hands-on over didactic or independent learning activities.
This pilot curriculum was designed to capitalize on practical hands-on training opportunities for our medical students, including participation in a disaster exercise and a mass-gathering event. These opportunities provided effective and engaging disaster preparedness education.
... Of the 25 studies included, nine [8,11,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] described the curriculum development process in such a way that the study could be replicated, twelve [10,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] mentioned the methods that were used without an explanation of how these methods were implemented to develop the curriculum, and four [7,[35][36][37] did not provide any description of the methodology used to develop the curriculum. Therefore, 16 of the included studies do not explain their curriculum development methodology in a replicable manner. ...
... Five courses were shorter than 10 h [21,23,30,35,37], eight were between 11 and 50 h long [10,11,24,25,27,29,31,36], while four comprised over 50 h of training [7,[32][33][34]. One study did not mention the duration of the training [26]. The number of students reached was heterogeneous as well, with three courses targeting less than 20 students [23,25,36], six targeting between 21 and 50 students [11,27,31,34,35,37], and nine targeting over 50 students [7,10,21,24,26,29,30,32,33]. ...
... One study did not mention the duration of the training [26]. The number of students reached was heterogeneous as well, with three courses targeting less than 20 students [23,25,36], six targeting between 21 and 50 students [11,27,31,34,35,37], and nine targeting over 50 students [7,10,21,24,26,29,30,32,33]. ...
Disaster Medicine (DM) is currently underrepresented in medical schools’ curricula worldwide, and existing DM courses for medical students are extremely heterogeneous due to the lack of pragmatic and standardized guidelines. Moreover, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the curriculum development methodology used for DM courses. This study aims to identify DM courses for medical students worldwide and to map their curriculum development methodologies by reviewing available literature. The search was conducted on three databases using terms “Disaster medicine” AND “Education”. Following the PRISMA approach, twenty-five articles that described the content and implementation of DM curricula were included in the analysis. Nine studies thoroughly described the curriculum development process. Expert opinion and literature review were the methodologies mostly used to develop DM curricula. Only four studies followed a multi-method process made up of four different methodologies, including expert opinion, literature review, survey, and Delphi methodology. Most of the courses adopted a face-to-face approach combining different training modalities, including the use of virtual reality simulations and drills. Overall, this systematic review highlights the need for evidence-based educational curricula in DM and provides recommendations for developing DM courses following a scientific approach.
... Populations with access and functional needs may include but are not limited to individuals with disabilities. 1 A previous US medical school survey revealed that only 31% reported having any type of disaster training in their curriculum. 4,5 From the programs that have started to incorporate the training, surveys of students displayed that only 17.2% believed that they were receiving adequate education for disasters or natural disasters. 4,5 Health care workers are often recognized as volunteers during emergencies, yet frequently feel unprepared due to complex and unfamiliar scenarios with the proper medical response. ...
... 4,5 From the programs that have started to incorporate the training, surveys of students displayed that only 17.2% believed that they were receiving adequate education for disasters or natural disasters. 4,5 Health care workers are often recognized as volunteers during emergencies, yet frequently feel unprepared due to complex and unfamiliar scenarios with the proper medical response. 2 ...
... Moreover, a previous survey of US medical schools revealed that only 31% reported having any type of disaster training in their curriculum. 5,6 From the programs that have started to incorporate the training, surveys of students displayed that only 17.2% believed that they were receiving adequate education for disasters or natural disasters. 5,6 Health care workers are often recognized as volunteers during emergency situations, yet frequently feel unprepared due to complex and unfamiliar scenarios with the proper medical response. ...
Objective
The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate whether physician assistant (PA) programs in the Midwest integrate both disabilities and emergency preparedness education into 1 curriculum.
Methods
A convenience sample was utilized to survey program directors and deans of PA programs. Emails were obtained from the Physician Assistant Education Association. A 26, closed-ended question Qualtrics survey was based on an original study by Tanenhaus et al. ¹
Results
Out of 43 accredited physician assistant programs surveyed, 9 programs replied (21%), and 1 program did not complete the survey. Six of the 10 programs (66%) responded that their program provided lectures specific to emergency preparedness. All 9 programs responded they do not offer a graduate-level track or concentration in emergency/disaster preparedness, and they do not offer a dual degree or a multidisciplinary program that highlights emergency/disaster preparedness.
Conclusions
This study was conducted to bring awareness to physician assistant students’ education regarding disabilities and emergency preparedness. As public health crises continue to arise, such as coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it is critical to have appropriately trained health care professionals. The study revealed that most programs lack a graduate-level track or concentrations, dual degrees, or extracurricular opportunities related to disabilities and emergency and disaster preparedness.
... In general, DDM is an important subject area that has thus far received only very variable attention in medical education internationally. In addition to a few national approaches, some of which already included blended learning components [18], smaller initiatives at individual medical schools have been described, with varying content and scope [19][20][21][22]. Most of these were single courses [20,21] or sequences of courses that range over a few semesters [19,22]. ...
... In addition to a few national approaches, some of which already included blended learning components [18], smaller initiatives at individual medical schools have been described, with varying content and scope [19][20][21][22]. Most of these were single courses [20,21] or sequences of courses that range over a few semesters [19,22]. This may be because these courses are often added to regular curricular teaching, which requires a certain resilience on the part of the organizing teachers. ...
Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought many aspects of disaster medicine into everyday awareness but also led to a massive change in medical teaching due to the necessity of contact restrictions. This study aimed to evaluate student acceptance of a curricular elective module on disaster and deployment medicine over a 5-year period and to present content adjustments due to COVID-19 restrictions. Methods Since 2016, 8 semesters of the curricular elective module took place in face-to-face teaching (pre-COVID-19 group). From the summer semester of 2020 to the summer semester of 2021, 3 semesters took place as online and hybrid courses (mid-COVID-19 group). Student attitudes and knowledge gains were measured using pretests, posttests, and final evaluations. These data were statistically compared across years, and new forms of teaching under COVID-19 conditions were examined in more detail. Results A total of 189 students participated in the module from the summer semester of 2016 through the summer semester of 2021 (pre-COVID-19: n = 138; mid-COVID-19: n = 51). There was a high level of satisfaction with the module across all semesters, with no significant differences between the groups. There was also no significant difference between the two cohorts in terms of knowledge gain, which was always significant (p
... Leveraging on stakeholders technical assistance and training in establishing early warning indicators, epidemiologic and diagnostic laboratory data and information from medical charts and records is critical in droughts and famine/malnutrition to health systems programming and budgeting. Establishing and maintaining effective partnership and relationships coupled with accountable and transparent management by health managers, representatives of local medical and public health communities' officers, the media and the general public [18]- [20]. Generating rapid information to assist decision-makers in the event of a disaster managing crises and recognizes the capacity of capable citizens and community organizers to facilitate response and recovery if provided the opportunity and resources in tackling urgently and sustainably growing malnutrition and epidemics threat, and ecosystem degradation impact-related climate changes and global warming [21], [22]. ...
... Recognizing that public and global health security requires urgent attention, the significant individual and collective commitment and investment to avert direct and indirect health impacts is vital. Such effort can be achieved by providing evidence-based national and regional decision-makers in community roles by focusing on how best to forecast, prevent, respond, and recover public health disasters crises or emergency situations [1], [18], [23]- [25]. ...
Increasing globalization, increasing intense urbanization and climate changes have been linked to communities’ hazards and disasters vulnerabilities reported across Africa. Less data and information are documented on national to community disaster risk workforce readiness and resilience capacity in emergency humanitarian crises interventions. The lack of coherent and integrated disaster risk analysis and preparedness, response and recovery programs implementation is a major challenged in the region for
decades. This paper highlights natural and man-made emergency hazards and disasters nature and exposure, potential approaches in Africa context. Our findings showed that man-made disasters events were the most documented, uneven in their nature, pattern and trend of occurrence and exposure consequences over time. Emerging and re-emerging outbreaks (Cholera, Polio, HIV, Ebola, Influenza, Rift Valley fever and Meningitis) were the most common, followed by conflicts and hunger, floods and land-sliding disproportionately spread across Africa. We also documented differential inadequacies in effective community risk assessment to emergency management, weak community disaster risk knowledge and attitudes to poorly integrated mitigation and recovery strategies. Leveraging on digital and social media network platforms advances coupled with existing fire, emergency facilities and proven effective hazard/disaster response lessons
learnt and experiences are resources in strengthening laboratory capacity and laboratory networks, scaling up proactive displaced people/refugee security and safety standards support and best practice. Strengthening the national Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SDRRF) stewardship and investment (2015-2030) implementation is crucial in improving evidence-based, robust, and effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) community-based programs, in ensuring emergency public health readiness and resilient response capacities and ownership strategies in Africa.
... 25 On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the low number of previous hours devoted to studying MCI during medical training, which shows the need to deepen this field of knowledge during medical studies. 26 The limited number of times during medical studies that they had attended classes based on table-top gamification methodology may be also something to improve. ...
Introduction
“Table-top” exercises can improve knowledge and skills related to mass casualty incidents (MCIs) with little logistical efforts. We aim to evaluate the learning process of 5th year medical school students related to MCI response using table-top simulation and measure their methodology perception.
Methods
A theoretical part plus an MCI simulation board exercise was organized. Knowledge pretest and 1 mo after posttest was scored, and an assessment questionnaire with 27 questions with a Likert-type scale with 3 dimensions: methodology, knowledge acquisition, and skills acquisition was administered. Students did not receive any written or training material between pretest and posttest.
Results
A total of 108 (80%) completed the evaluation questionnaire, pretest, and posttest. For the pretest, average grade was 4.25 (SD = 1.71) and 42% passed, and for the posttest, average grade was 8.33 (SD = 1.28) and 97 % pass ( P < 0.0001). All variables measuring methodology perception scored more than 8, except for the duration of the exercise (7.3). Most knowledge acquisition scored above 9. Self-perception skill acquisition scores were slightly lower, although all above 7.
Conclusions
“Table-top” methodology is useful for acquiring knowledge and skills related to MCI response. Retention of knowledge is very high. Students consider that this methodology can be very useful for medical studies. Active or nonactive role is a factor that only influences final results in specific items.
... Evaluation sheet of tabletop drill for hospital team in C-MCIREM CT, computed tomography; DMAT, disaster medical assistance team; ED, emergency department; Hb, hemoglobin; HICS, hospital incident command system; ICU, intensive care unit; OPD, outpatient department; PPE, personal protective equipment; The authors developed this evaluation sheet after the review of literatures about concepts of disaster management including special chemical disaster situation.2,9,[19][20][21][22][23] ...
Background With the occurrence of a number of major disasters around the world, there is growing interest in chemical disaster medicine. In South Korea, there is a training program for mass casualty incidents (MCI) and backup by legal regulations by the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety. However, there is no program focusing on chemical disasters. Thus, the authors newly created a program, the Chemical-Mass Casualty Incident Response Education Module (C-MCIREM) in September 2019. This was a pilot study to verify the educational effect of the program. Method A pre/post study was conducted of a chemical MCI training program based on simulation. A total of 25 representative and qualified participants were recruited from fire departments, administrative staff of public health centers, and healthcare workers of hospitals in the Gyeonggi-do province of South Korea. They participated in a one-day training program. A knowledge test and confidence survey were provided to participants just before training, and again immediately following the training online. The authors compared improvements of pre/post-test results. In the tabletop drill exercise, quantified qualitative analyses were used to measure the educational effect on the participants. Results In the knowledge test, the mean (standard deviation) scores for all 25 participants at baseline and after training were 41.72 (15.186) and 77.96 (11.227), respectively (p < 0.001). In the confidence survey for chemical MCI response for all 25 participants, all the sub-items concerning personal protective equipment selection, antidote selection, antidote stockpiling and passing on knowledge to colleagues, zone setup and decontamination, and chemical triage were improved compared to the baseline score (p < 0.001). The tabletop exercise represented a prehospital setting and had 11 participants. The self-efficacy qualitative survey showed pre- and post-exercise scores of 64/100 and 84/100 respectively. For a hospital setting exercise, it had 14 participants. The survey showed pre/post-exercise scores of 26/100 and 73/100 respectively. Twenty-two (88%) participants responded to the final satisfaction survey, and their overall mean scores regarding willingness to recommend this training program to others, overall satisfaction with theoretical education, overall satisfaction with tabletop drill simulation, and opinion about whether policymakers need this training were all over 8 out of 10 respectively. Conclusion C-MCIREM, the newly created chemical MCI program, provided effective education to the selected 25 participants among Korean chemical MCI responders in terms of both knowledge and practice at a single pilot trial. Participants were highly satisfied with the educational material and their confidence in disaster preparedness was clearly improved. In order to prove the universal educational effect of this C-MCIREM in the future, more education is needed.
... Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness disaster preparedness training, but have pointed to coverage gaps that this study confirmed. [36][37][38][39] Addressing this mediocrity of coverage could be remedied in multiple ways. Increased time in the curriculum is often difficult, due to multiple pressing topics that must be covered in instructional time. ...
Background
A sense of competency and confidence in disaster management is linked to response willingness and efficacy. This study assessed current health-care student disaster competency curricula and resultant confidence.
Methods
A survey was sent to students and administrators in nurse practitioner (NP), master of public health (MPH), and medical/osteopathic schools (MD/DO), assessing curriculum coverage of 15 disaster management competencies (1-4, total 15-60), and confidence in performing 15 related behaviors (1-7, total 15-105). One-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post-hoc and Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to examine group differences.
Results
A total of 729 students and 72 administrators completed the survey. Low coverage of all topics was reported by both students and administrators (mean 24.4; SD 9.6). Among students, NP students (21.66 ± 8.56) scored significantly lower than MD/DO (23.32 ± 8.19; P < 0.001) and MPH students (26.58 ± 9.06; P < 0.001) on curriculum coverage. Both administrators and students expressed low confidence in competence, with students significantly lower ( P < 0.001). NP students scored higher (63.12 ± 20.69; P < 0.001) than both MPH (54.85 ± 17.82) and MD/DO (51.17 ± 19.71; P < 0.001) students.
Conclusions
Health-care students report low coverage of topics considered to be necessary disaster response competencies, as well as their confidence to execute functions. This may negatively impact willingness and ability of these professionals to respond effectively in a disaster.
... Similarly, in a study carried out with 205 physicians in Turkey, only 36.3% of participants stated that they had applied triage principles [15]. In fact, lack of specific education on disaster medicine is a widespread problem all over the world [16][17][18]. Today everyone is aware of the increasing risk of major accidents and disasters, and the importance of active preparation-including training; however, nobody invests in it [19]. ...
Background
Natural disasters, armed conflict, migration, and epidemics today occur more frequently, causing more death, displacement of people and economic loss. Their burden on health systems and healthcare workers (HCWs) is getting heavier accordingly. The ethical problems that arise in disaster settings may be different than the ones in daily practice, and can cause preventable harm or the violation of basic human rights. Understanding the types and the determinants of ethical challenges is crucial in order to find the most benevolent action while respecting the dignity of those affected people. Considering the limited scope of studies on ethical challenges within disaster settings, we set upon conducting a qualitative study among local HCWs.
Methods
Our study was conducted in six cities of Turkey, a country where disasters are frequent, including armed conflict, terrorist attacks and a massive influx of refugees. In-depth interviews were carried out with a total of 31 HCWs working with various backgrounds and experience. Data analysis was done concurrently with ongoing interviews.
Results
Several fundamental elements currently hinder ethics in relief work. Attitudes of public authorities, politicians and relief organizations, the mismanagement of impromptu humanitarian action and relief and the media's mindset create ethical problems on the macro-level such as discrimination, unjust resource allocation and violation of personal rights, and can also directly cause or facilitate the emergence of problems on the micro-level. An important component which prevents humanitarian action towards victims is insufficient competence. The duty to care during epidemics and armed conflicts becomes controversial. Many participants defend a paternalistic approach related to autonomy. Confidentiality and privacy are either neglected or cannot be secured.
Conclusion
Intervention in factors on the macro-level could have a significant effect in problem prevention. Improving guidelines and professional codes as well as educating HCWs are also areas for improvement. Also, ethical questions exposed within this study should be deliberated and actualized with universal consensus in order to guide HCWs and increase humane attitudes.
Background
Adequate training and preparation of medical first responders (MFRs) are essential for an optimal performance in highly demanding situations like disasters (e.g., mass accidents, natural catastrophes). The training needs to be as effective as possible, because precise and effective behavior of MFRs under stress is central for ensuring patients’ survival and recovery. This systematic review offers an overview of scientifically evaluated training methods used to prepare MFRs for disasters. It identifies different effectiveness indicators and provides an additional analysis of how and to what extent the innovative training technologies virtual (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are included in disaster training research.
Methods
The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and focused specifically on (quasi-)experimental studies published between January 2010 and September 2021. The literature search was conducted via Web of Science and PubMed and led to the inclusion of 55 articles.
Results
The search identified several types of training, including traditional (e.g., lectures, real-life scenario training) and technology-based training (e.g., computer-based learning, educational videos). Most trainings consisted of more than one method. The effectiveness of the trainings was mainly assessed through pre-post comparisons of knowledge tests or self-reported measures although some studies also used behavioral performance measures (e.g., triage accuracy). While all methods demonstrated effectiveness, the literature indicates that technology-based methods often lead to similar or greater training outcomes than traditional trainings. Currently, few studies systematically evaluated immersive VR and MR training.
Conclusion
To determine the success of a training, proper and scientifically sound evaluation is necessary. Of the effectiveness indicators found, performance assessments in simulated scenarios are closest to the target behavior during real disasters. For valid yet inexpensive evaluations, objectively assessible performance measures, such as accuracy, time, and order of actions could be used. However, performance assessments have not been applied often. Furthermore, we found that technology-based training methods represent a promising approach to train many MFRs repeatedly and efficiently. These technologies offer great potential to supplement or partially replace traditional training. Further research is needed on those methods that have been underrepresented, especially serious gaming, immersive VR, and MR.
Events involving a high number of participants should be planned and implemented with the primary objective of guaranteeing the highest possible level of safety, which is ever more essential in the recent years due to the risk of terrorism, violence, and highly transmissible pathogens like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The aim of this study was describing health care management of the Vasco Modena Park July 1, 2017 concert by the artist Vasco Rossi that involved 220,000 participants, more than doubling the population of Modena (Italy), the city hosting the event.
Data were retrospectively collected from all health care registers used during the concert. Descriptive data regarding the event were recorded, as well as the medical records generated by the advanced medical posts.
For analysis, patients were divided into two groups: the LOW-Severity (admission code green) and HIGH-Severity (admission codes yellow and red). The number of patients within the inclusion period was 1,088; there were 953 green discharge codes (97.74%), 16 yellow (1.64%), and six red (0.61%). Patients who needed a second-level assessment were 5.85% (57 events). HIGH-Severity patients needed to be further evaluated in 45.45% of the cases versus 4.93% of the LOW-Severity patient group (P value <.001).
The health care management proved adequate to the number of participants and the severity of patients. Descriptive data reported add the mass-gathering database useful for further events.
Background
Despite a 2009 recommendation from the AMA that disaster medicine and public health response training should be implemented in medical schools, anywhere from 31% to 47% of medical education programs lack a formalized disaster medicine curriculum. A need for disaster medicine response training for University of Alabama medical students in an appropriately socially distanced format was identified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
Our emergency medicine faculty in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Center for Disaster Preparedness (FEMA CDP) created and implemented a novel virtual disaster medicine and pandemic response course for third year medical students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The course was administered via a teleconferencing platform (Zoom, Zoom Video Communications, Inc.) in the spring of 2020 to greater than 130 medical students.
Results
Using pre and post course surveys, we assessed a change in student confidence levels for their ability to explain topics covered in the course and their understanding of a chosen disaster. The students reported an average increase of 2.183 on a 5-point scale, with a score of 5 representing “completely confident” and a score of 1 representing “not at all confident”. This course established the feasibility of a virtual instructor led training (VILT) format for disaster medicine education and provided a template for the delivery of over 300 courses to more than 4,000 first responders and medical professionals through the FEMA CDP.
Conclusions
Through collaboration with the FEMA CDP, our UAB faculty were able to successfully deliver a novel virtual disaster preparedness and response course. The course resulted in subjective improvement of students’ content understanding while also establishing the feasibility and effectiveness of a VILT format that could be readily applied to future courses in undergraduate medical education and beyond.
Introduction
The recent increase in natural disasters and mass shootings highlights the need for medical providers to be prepared to provide care in extreme environments. However, while physicians of all specialties may respond in emergencies, disaster medicine training is minimal or absent from most medical school curricula in the United States. A voluntary Disaster Medicine Certificate Series (DMCS) was piloted to fill this gap in undergraduate medical education.
Report
Beginning in August of 2017, second- and third-year medical students voluntarily enrolled in DMCS. Students earned points toward the certificate through participation in activities and membership in community organizations in a flexible format that caters to variable schedules and interests. Topics covered included active shooter training, decontamination procedures, mass-casualty triage, Incident Command System (ICS) training, and more. At the conclusion of the pilot year, demographic information was collected and a survey was conducted to evaluate student opinions regarding the program.
Results
Sixty-eight second- and third-year medical students participated in the pilot year, with five multi-hour skills trainings and five didactic lectures made available to students. Forty-eight of those 68 enrolled in DMCS completed the retrospective survey. Student responses indicated that community partners serve as effective means for providing lectures (overall mean rating 4.50/5.0) and skills sessions (rating 4.58/5.0), and that the program created avenues for real-world disaster response in their local communities (rating 4.40/5.0).
Conclusions
The DMCS voluntary certificate series model served as an innovative method for providing disaster medicine education to medical students.
Introduction
While the art and science of disaster triage continue to evolve, the education of the US health care student in matters pertaining to disaster preparedness and response remains stifled. Unfortunately, these students will be assuming major decision-making responsibilities regarding catastrophes that will be complicated by climate change, nuclear threats, global terrorism, and pandemics. Meanwhile, Sort, Assess, Life-Saving Interventions, Treatment, and/or Transport (SALT) triage is being advocated over the globally popular Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) algorithm for multiple reasons: (1) it’s an all-hazard approach; (2) it has four medical interventions; and (3) it has an additional triage color for victims with non-survivable injuries.
Hypothesis/Problem
As present-day threats become more ominous and health care education emphasizes the needs of vulnerable populations and palliative care, the authors hypothesize that, when given a choice, health care students will prefer SALT triage.
Methods
A convenience sample of 218 interprofessional, disaster-naïve health care students received just-in-time, unbiased education on both START and SALT triage systems. Students then completed a survey asking them to decide which triage system they believe would be most effective in their community.
Results
A total of 123 health care students (56.4%) preferred SALT while 95 (43.6%) preferred START; however, only the physician assistant students showed a statistically significantly preference (28 versus six, respectively; P=.042). Interestingly, there was also a statistically significant difference in preference by gender (Chi-square=5.02; P=.025) of the observed distribution versus expected distribution in SALT and START. The females preferred SALT (61.0%) while the males preferred START (55.9%).
Among those who preferred START, START being easier to learn was the most important reason cited. Among those who preferred SALT, the most important reason cited was that the number of patient triage categories seemed more logical, comprehensible, and consistent with traditional medical care.
Conclusion
While SALT’s preference among females and physician assistant students was based on the addition of medical interventions and the provision of palliative care, START’s preference was related to expediency. Based on this research, incorporating disaster concepts into US health care students’ curricula encourages thoughtful consideration among the future health care leaders about the most effective approach to triage care. It is critical that further research be completed to determine, without reservation, which triage system will not only save the most lives but provide the most humane care to victims.
Fink BN, Rega PP, Sexton ME, Wishner C. START versus SALT triage: which is preferred by the 21st century health care student?
Objective
The Association of American Medical Colleges recommended an increase in medical education for public health emergencies, bioterrorism, and weapons of mass destruction in 2003. The University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine (USD SSOM) implemented a 1-day training event to provide disaster preparedness training and deployment organization for health professions students called Disaster Training Day (DTD).
Methods
Hospital staff and emergency medical services personnel provided the lecture portion of DTD using Core Disaster Life Support (CDLS; National Disaster Life Support Foundation) as the framework. Pre-test and post-test analyses were presented to the students. Small group activities covered leadership, anaphylaxis, mass fatality, points of dispensing deployment training, psychological first aid, triage, and personal protective equipment. Students were given the option to sign up for statewide deployment through the South Dakota Statewide Emergency Registry of Volunteers (SERV SD). DTD data and student satisfaction surveys from 2009 to 2016 were reviewed.
Results
Since 2004, DTD has provided disaster preparedness training to 2246 students across 13 health professions. Significant improvement was shown on CDLS post-test performance with a t-score of −14.24 and a resulting P value of <0.00001. Students showed high levels of satisfaction on a 5-level Likert scale with overall training, small group sessions, and perceived self-competency relating to disaster response. SERV SD registration increased in 2015, and 77.5% of the participants registered in 2016.
Conclusion
DTD at the USD SSOM provides for an effective 1-day disaster training course for health professions students. Resources from around the state were coordinated to provide training, liability coverage, and deployment organization for hundreds of students representing multiple health professions. ( Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness . 2017; page 1 of 6)
Objective:
Eager medical students may not be prepared for unanticipated complexities of disaster response. This study aimed to answer 2 questions: does an online disaster preparedness curriculum create a convenient method to educate medical students and motivate them to be better prepared to volunteer?
Methods:
An online disaster preparedness elective was created for medical students. Four modules were created using Softchalk and hosted on the Blackboard Learning Management System. Students completed embedded pre-elective, post-lesson, and post-elective surveys.
Results:
Fifty-five students completed the elective. When posed with the statement, "I feel prepared for an emergency at the University or the immediate area," 70% stated that they disagreed or strongly disagreed before the elective. Subsequently, only 11% claimed to disagree after the elective. At the conclusion of the elective, 13% of students had prepared a personal emergency kit and 28% had prepared a family communication plan for reunification. Students were surveyed on the statement "I would like to be involved in a community disaster response while continuing my medical training." Ninety-four percent claimed to agree or strongly agree before the elective, and 93% stated the same after elective completion.
Conclusions:
This disaster preparedness elective was envisioned to be a resource for students. Advantages of online availability are ease of student access and minimal demand on faculty resources. A voluntary, self-paced online elective in disaster preparedness has shown to create a stronger interest in disaster participation in medical students. Student readiness to volunteer improved; however, willingness remained stagnant.
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