An Intervention Study on the Knowledge and Training Needs of Disaster Medicine among Medical Students in Puducherry

Abstract

Background: Disaster relief and assistance are mainly carried out by medical rescue teams, which are constituted of health profession- als. The study was conducted to assess effect of training methods to create awareness and impart training regarding disaster manage- ment among medical student. Methods: An intervention study was under-taken, interviewing 150 medical students. Intervention was done using lecture, posters and videos on disaster simulation drills. Evaluation was conducted us- ing the same questionnaire following the intervention. The pre- and post-test evaluation were compared and analyzed. Results: The study showed lower levels of knowledge on disaster management. Following the intervention there was a significant rise in the knowledge levels. The demand survey revealed the students’ willingness to learn more about the disasters and fill their gaps in knowledge. Conclusion: Traditional clinical-oriented medical education might lead to a huge gap between the knowledge level on disaster medi- cine and the current needs of disaster preparedness. Continuing medical education plans on disaster medicine via media should be practice-oriented, and take the knowledge levels and training needs into consideration.

Keywords

• Disaster management
• Medical students
• Costal area
• Intervention study
• Demand survey