Emergency Preparedness: Addressing a Residency Training Gap

Abstract

As the importance of physician involvement and leadership in crisis preparedness is recognized, the literature suggests that few physicians are adequately trained to practice effectively in a large-scale crisis situation. A logical method for addressing the emergency preparedness training deficiency identified across several medical specialties is to include disaster and emergency preparedness training in residency curricula. In this article, the authors outline the development and implementation of an emergency preparedness curriculum for the Johns Hopkins General Preventive Medicine Residency (JHGPMR) from 2004 to 2006. The curriculum consists of two components. The first was developed for the academic year in the JHGPMR and includes didactic lectures, practical exercises to apply new knowledge, and an opportunity to integrate the knowledge and skills in a real-world exercise. The second, developed for the practicum year of the residency, includes Web-based lectures and online content and culminates in a tabletop preparedness exercise. Topics for both components include weapons of mass destruction, risk communication and personal preparedness, aspects of local emergency response planning, and mental health and psychological aspects of terrorism. On the basis of the emergency preparedness training gap that has been identified in the literature, and the success of the three-year experience in implementing a preparedness training curriculum in the JHGPMR, the authors recommend incorporation of competency-based emergency preparedness training for residencies of all specialties, and offer insights into how the described curriculum could be adapted for use in other residency settings.

The knowledge, attitude and behavior about public health emergencies and the response capacity of primary care medical staffs of Guangdong Province, China

“…Besides, their knowledge, attitude and behavior about health emergencies and the response capacity are directly related to the control and prevention of public health emergencies. However, research have indicated that primary care medical staffs of many countries are not ready to deal with the public health emergencies [8,9,14,15], which mainly due to the lack of training and experience about public health emergencies [16-18]. The public health emergencies are usually sudden, unpredictable and with considerable severity.…”

Major Incident Preparation for Acute Hospitals: Current State-of-the-Art, Training Needs Analysis, and the Role of Novel Virtual Worlds Simulation Technologies

“…Effective response to a major incident and the quality of outcomes for the hospital requires adequate skills in hospital personnel, and also organizational preparedness (6). Evidence, however, from both research and real-life events, shows that health systems and hospitals in developed countries are poorly prepared to deal with major incidents (7)(8)(9)(10). In addition, staff are not familiar with the major incident plans or confident of their role in an incident (11,12).…”

A Systematic Review of Literature on Effectiveness of Training in Emergency Risk Communication

“…Among the few specific findings about key factors in successful training, an exercise involving 17 local health district risk communicators in Georgia, U.S.A., found that participants had much greater difficulty following risk communication principles under the time pressures of a realistic and stressful simulation than they did in a tabletop exercise. Participants did report highly enhanced awareness, readiness, and knowledge after the real-time simulation Ablah, et al, 2007;Dausey et al, 2006;Leaming, et al, 2013;Sandstrom et al, 2014;Uddin et al, 2008; forgetting to include expression of empathy and using too much bureaucratic speech; media talking points not shared with hospitals and other agencies; participants not adequately monitoring media developments; notification lists often used indiscriminately and not usable by back-ups in their current format; departments waiting until they were contacted to start communicating with the public, meaning they often responded defensively and had trouble quickly formulating an initial message that was clear, informative, and alleviated anxiety. In South Africa, hospital preparedness for risk communication and public relations was found to be among the lowest preparedness of areas assessed.…”

“…(Modified BMJ) Low Uddin, et al, 2008 Formalized competency-based all-hazards curriculum. Purpose: to assess student perception of curriculum in U.S.A.…”