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.Kommor MB, Hodge B, Ciottone G. Development and implementation of a Disaster Medicine Certificate Series (DMCS) for medical students. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(2):197–202

Introduction: In-flight medical emergencies occur in an estimated one out of 604 flights. Responding in this environment poses a unique set of challenges unfamiliar to most emergency medicine (EM) providers, including physical space and resource limitations. We developed a novel high-fidelity in-situ training curriculum focused on frequent or high-risk in-flight medical scenarios while replicating this austere environment.Methods: Our residency program coordinated with our local airport's chief of security and an airline-specific station manager to arrange the use of a grounded Boeing 737 commercial airliner during late evening/early morning hours. Eight stations reviewing in-flight medical emergency topics were reviewed, five of which were simulation scenarios. We created medical and first-aid kits that reflect equipment used by commercial airlines. Residents' self-assessed competency and medical knowledge were assessed both initially and postcurriculum using a standardized questionnaire.Results: Forty residents attended the educational event as learners. Self-assessed competency and medical knowledge increased after curriculum participation. All tested aspects of self-assessed competency had a statistically significant increase from a mean of 15.04 to 29.20 out of a maximum score of forty. The mean medical knowledge score increased from 4.65 to 6.93 out of 10 maximum points. Conclusion:A five-hour in-situ curriculum for reviewing in-flight medical emergencies increased selfassessed competency and medical knowledge for EM and EM-internal medicine residents. The curriculum was overwhelmingly well-received by learners.