Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

Disaster preparedness training is a critical component of medical student education. Despite recent natural and man-made disasters, there is no national consensus on a disaster preparedness curriculum. The authors designed a survey to assess prior disaster preparedness training among incoming interns at an academic teaching hospital. In 2010, the authors surveyed incoming interns (n = 130) regarding the number of hours of training in disaster preparedness received during medical school, including formal didactic sessions and simulation, and their level of self-perceived proficiency in disaster management. Survey respondents represented 42 medical schools located in 20 states. Results demonstrated that 47% of interns received formal training in disaster preparedness in medical school; 64% of these training programs included some type of simulation. There is a need to improve the level of disaster preparedness training in medical school. A national curriculum should be developed with aspects that promote knowledge retention.

The Factors that Influence the Transfer of Training in Disaster Preparedness Training: A Review

“…According to the World Health Organization, prevention and preparation is equally important with emergency supplies. The community should be equipped to face any disaster with enough knowledge and skills (Alim, Kawabata, & Nakazawa, 2014) and disaster preparedness training should be held frequently (Rahman, 2012;Gissing, 2003) In the study of Jasper et al, (2013), disaster preparedness training and knowledge preparation for medical workers has been found to be insufficient as employees were still not ready to deal with the disaster (Rn & Rgn, 2011). One of the ways for medical organizations to ensure the transfer of knowledge during the training is to ensure that assessments on disaster preparation are conducted continuously in order to maintain or retain information, knowledge and skills acquired during training.…”

“…Disaster preparedness training has also improved knowledge, skills and behaviours in training stimulations (Jasper et al, 2013). Simulation is a hands-on experiential training method (Tahir, 2005) that promotes knowledge.…”

The South Dakota Model: Health Care Professions Student Disaster Preparedness and Deployment Training

“…10 Additionally, no standardized curriculum has been universally accepted. 11 DTD at the USD SSOM provides a successful model for integrating mass disaster training into the curriculum of not just medical schools but all health professions students. The participation in the program has expanded since its inaugural year in 2004.…”

“…A review of the literature indicates that medical student disaster training is still inadequate 10 . Additionally, no standardized curriculum has been universally accepted 11 …”

Intern preparedness for the CanMEDS roles and the Dunning-Kruger effect: a survey

“…Where preparedness was measured against national standards, interns were sometimes not achieving them [23]. On the other hand, other studies have focused on the effect of programmes to prepare students for specific competencies such as disaster preparedness [24], emotion regulation [25], memorable ‘firsts’ [26], infant lumbar punctures [27], basic medical procedures [28], career preparation and guidance [3], vaccination [9], health advocacy (residents/registrars in this case) [29], a particular internship rotation [30], or developing a professional identity [6]. Additionally, studies have assessed the effect of entire undergraduate programmes on interns’ feelings of competence [7, 8, 31, 32].…”