Disaster Training Following COVID-19 for Pediatric Medical Residents: Demand and Format.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Disaster Medicine
• Public Health Preparedness

Background:

• The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic underscored the critical need for disaster medicine education across all medical specialties.
• Pediatric residents, like other trainees, recognized potential gaps in their disaster preparedness knowledge and skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the disaster medicine knowledge, confidence, and attitudes of pediatric residents during the COVID-19 era.
• To identify preferred educational methods for disaster medicine training among residents.
• To assess the effectiveness of implemented virtual and in-person educational sessions.

Main Methods:

• A survey was administered to pediatric residents at a tertiary care center to gauge their disaster medicine knowledge, confidence, and preferred learning modalities.
• Educational sessions, incorporating both virtual and in-person formats, were developed based on survey feedback.
• A post-educational session survey was used to analyze the effectiveness of the training interventions.

Main Results:

• A 51.6% response rate was achieved from 120 distributed surveys, revealing that 46.8% of residents had less than one hour of disaster training.
• Despite limited prior disaster experience (9.7%), residents showed high motivation (96.8% interest) for enhanced disaster medicine education, influenced by COVID-19.
• Simulation and peer learning were identified as preferred teaching methods, and subsequent training improved confidence scores, though 66.7% of virtual learners preferred in-person instruction.

Conclusions:

• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the universal relevance of disaster medicine, increasing pediatric residents' enthusiasm to address educational deficits.
• Residents indicated a strong preference for in-person simulation-based training over virtual methods for effective disaster medicine education, while acknowledging virtual education's foundational role.