Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T20:45:54.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Disaster Medicine: A Multi-Modality Curriculum Designed and Implemented for Emergency Medicine Residents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2016

Jessica Ngo*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Kimberly Schertzer
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Phillip Harter
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Rebecca Smith-Coggins
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Jessica Ngo, Department of Emergency Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Alway Building M121, Stanford, CA 94305 (e-mail: jngo@stanford.edu).

Abstract

Objective

Few established curricula are available for teaching disaster medicine. We describe a comprehensive, multi-modality approach focused on simulation to teach disaster medicine to emergency medicine residents in a 3-year curriculum.

Methods

Residents underwent a 3-year disaster medicine curriculum incorporating a variety of venues, personnel, and roles. The curriculum included classroom lectures, tabletop exercises, virtual reality simulation, high-fidelity simulation, hospital disaster drills, and journal club discussion. All aspects were supervised by specialty emergency medicine faculty and followed a structured debriefing. Residents rated the high-fidelity simulations by using a 10-point Likert scale.

Results

Three classes of emergency medicine residents participated in the 3-year training program. Residents found the exercise to be realistic, educational, and relevant to their practice. After participating in the program, residents felt better prepared for future disasters.

Conclusions

Given the large scope of impact that disasters potentiate, it is understandably difficult to teach these skills effectively. Training programs can utilize this simulation-based curriculum to better prepare the nation’s emergency medicine physicians for future disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:611–614)

Type
Original Research
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Cicero, MX, Auerbach, MA, Zigmont, J, et al. Simulation training with structured debriefing improves residents’ pediatric disaster triage performance. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(3):239-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X12000775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Huntington, MK, Gavagan, TF. Disaster medicine training in family medicine: a review of the evidence. Fam Med.. 2011;43(1):13-20.Google ScholarPubMed
3. Cicero, MX, Blake, E, Gallant, N, et al. Impact of an educational intervention on residents’ knowledge of pediatric disaster medicine. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2009;25(7):447-451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PEC.0b013e3181ab78af.Google Scholar
4. Galante, JM, Jacoby, RC, Anderson, JT. Are surgical residents prepared for mass casualty incidents? J Surg Res. 2006;132(1):85-91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2005.07.031.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Marco, CA, Kowalenko, T, Marco, CA, et al. Competence and challenges of emergency medicine training as reported by emergency medicine residents. J Emerg Med. 2012;43(6):1103-1109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2012.05.033.Google Scholar
6. Kaji, AH, Coates, W, Fung, CC. A disaster medicine curriculum for medical students. Teach Learn Med. 2010;22(2):116-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10401331003656561.Google Scholar
7. Parrish, AR, Oliver, S, Jenkins, D, et al. A short medical school course on responding to bioterrorism and other disasters. Acad Med. 2005;80(9):820-823. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200509000-00007.Google Scholar
8. Silenas, R, Akins, R, Parrish, AR, et al. Developing disaster preparedness competence: an experiential learning exercise for multiprofessional education. Teach Learn Med. 2008;20(1):62-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10401330701798311.Google Scholar
9. Franc, JM, Nichols, D, Dong, SL. Increasing emergency medicine residents’ confidence in disaster management: use of an emergency department simulator and an expedited curriculum. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(1):31-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X11006807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Heinrichs, WL, Youngblood, P, Harter, P, et al. Training healthcare personnel for mass-casualty incidents in a virtual emergency department: VED II. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2010;25(5):424-432. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X00008505.Google Scholar
11. Weiss, EA, Ngo, J, Gilbert, GH, et al. Drive-through medicine: a novel proposal for rapid evaluation of patients during an influenza pandemic. Ann Emerg Med. 2010;55(3):268-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2009.11.025.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12. McLaughlin, S, Fitch, MT, Goyal, DG, et al; The SAEM Technology in Medical Education Committee and the Simulation Interest Group. Simulation in graduate medical education 2008: a review for emergency medicine. Acad Emerg Med. 2008;15(11):1117-1129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2008.00188.x.Google Scholar
13. Spector, R, Dicks, R. In treating crash victims, readiness paid off. Inside Stanford Medicine. 15 July 2013:1.Google Scholar