Developing disaster preparedness competence: an experiential learning exercise for multiprofessional education.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health Preparedness
• Infectious Disease Simulation

Background:

• Recent hurricane disasters and pandemic threats necessitate emergency preparedness training for healthcare students.
• Medical educators must develop robust training programs for future healthcare professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe an experiential, modified tabletop exercise for medical and veterinary students.
• To enhance core competencies in mass health emergency preparedness.
• To address the scenario of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) as a potential biological attack.

Main Methods:

• A modified tabletop exercise was developed and implemented for medical and veterinary students.
• Students were assigned roles (physicians, public health officials, veterinarians, etc.) in small groups.
• Fifteen faculty members with relevant expertise participated.
• Pre- and posttesting assessed knowledge gains.

Main Results:

• Medical students demonstrated significant gains in knowledge following the exercise.
• The exercise effectively simulated an emerging infectious disease scenario with biological attack implications.
• Role-playing and structured learning activities facilitated competency development.

Conclusions:

• The described experiential exercise is an effective, inexpensive, and adaptable tool.
• It promotes multiple competencies in mass health emergency preparedness.
• The training is suitable for medical, veterinary, public health, and nursing students.