A multiphase disaster training exercise for emergency medicine residents: opportunity knocks

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Disaster Medicine
• Emergency Preparedness

Background:

• Disaster planning is a required component of emergency medicine (EM) residency training.
• Limited comprehensive training opportunities incorporating essential competencies in disaster planning exist for EM residents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop, pilot, and assess a novel disaster preparedness program.
• The program integrates an interactive, web-based curriculum with a hands-on, multidisciplinary disaster simulation exercise.

Main Methods:

• EM residents, guided by faculty mentors, utilized an online platform to study disaster planning literature and revise an existing institutional disaster plan.
• Residents then executed their revised plan during a large-scale, multidisciplinary disaster drill involving 80 simulated casualties.
• A joint debriefing session was conducted for all participating health professions.

Main Results:

• Sixteen residents and 17 faculty members participated in the exercise.
• High-fidelity simulations and trained volunteers realistically portrayed casualties of varying ages and conditions.
• Residents reported high satisfaction, rating the exercise as enjoyable (4.9/5), relevant (4.6/5), and educational (4.8/5).

Conclusions:

• High-quality medical disaster exercises, coordinated with local emergency response agencies, are valuable for EM residency programs.
• Residents expressed significant satisfaction and reported substantial learning gains from realistic disaster simulations and inter-agency collaboration.