Disaster Preparedness Curriculum and Willingness to Respond to Disasters in Medical Students

Medical students may be called on to assist in disasters. Because willingness to respond to disasters is a value-based decision, this study examined if participation in a knowledge-and skill-based disaster preparedness curriculum, based on best practices, would affect medical student attitudes toward a willingness to respond. All medical students enrolled in a 2-phase elective disaster preparedness curriculum were surveyed regarding their disaster response willingness pre-post ‘Basic’ and ‘Advanced’ phases. Basic was an introductory, case-based, standardized, all-hazards approach course. Advanced was a more in-depth, practice-oriented course that included a mass casualty incident as the culminating event. Before and after both courses, most participants were willing to respond to all types of disasters. Pre-post ‘Basic’, participants significantly improved their willingness to respond to weather, mass casualty, and environmental disasters. Pre-post ‘Advanced’, students significantly increased the number of disasters to which they were willing to respond. It seems participants, prepared or unprepared, wished to respond to disasters. They need training and confidence, however, to perform the specialized skills. To truly be of assistance, their skills must match their willingness level. A knowledge- and skill-based curriculum following best practices like the one used in the current study seems to improve not only participant skills but also willingness to respond. If results obtained in this exploratory study are confirmed in more definitive studies, medical educators should also consider the effect on willingness to respond when selecting disaster preparedness training curricula for students.