Disaster Medicine Education for Medical Students: A Scoping Review

Education and training in disaster medicine for undergraduate medical students have been advocated for years in several countries. Despite the inclusion of disaster medicine into the medical curriculum being a reality in certain countries, such as the United States and Germany, it is still under scrutiny and yet to be embraced globally. The objective of the study was to examine and map the range of literature and evidence available to support the inclusion of disaster education in the undergraduate medical curriculum and the identification of the related research gaps. A scoping review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews methodology proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. A study protocol was designed and distributed to all the authors. English articles published in peer-reviewed journals were searched across various databases for the period between 2004 and 2021. Abstracts and available full texts referring to the incorporation of disaster health educational programs into the undergraduate medical curriculum in different forms and formats were included. Sixty-four articles were collected from 2004 to 2021. The bulk of the articles published was from the USA (n = 24), Germany (n = 6), Italy (n = 5), Saudi Arabia (n = 4), the UK (n = 3), India (n = 3), and Canada (n = 3). The types of articles included were mainly survey studies (n = 26) and pilot studies (n = 12). Forty-six (71.9%) articles included were based on courses taught on disaster medicine. The modes of teaching used were mainly face-to-face, simulation, and e-learning. The curriculum covered in the taught courses included general principles of disaster medicine (n = 34), chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear/bioterrorism (n = 10), and pandemics (n = 2). Thirty-three articles were based on a single course while 13 articles studied more than one course. Further research in disaster health education, establishing a concise undergraduate medical curriculum globally, using technology and simulation, training the faculty, and developing interdisciplinary disaster education programs were the significant gaps identified in this study. Available literature supports the inclusion of disaster medicine into the undergraduate medical curriculum globally. However, the boundaries and the inclusion criteria of the basic disaster health educational program into the existing undergraduate medical curriculum must be defined and agreed upon.