Development of a Public Health Crisis Preparedness and Disaster Management Training Program for Medical Students

Purpose: Preparedness for and responses to public health crises are fundamental actions for health care professionals. Therefore, we developed a multidisciplinary curriculum based on the core competencies of physicians for junior undergraduate medical students to acquire basic skills in communicating, cooperating and coordinating with other professionals. Methods: The curriculum, teaching instructions and objectives were based on the important competencies identified through working group meetings. The working group included different specialists from hospitals, academic institutions and government emergency response bureau. Results: The five-day course including lectures, group discussions, case and scenario discussions, hands-on practice and tabletop drills was performed. The curriculum has been demonstrated that developing a multidisciplinary course for junior medical students was feasible although these students have limited medical knowledge. Conclusions: Through the cooperation of different specialties, the training program was able to meet competencies for disaster education and to be applicable for curriculum development for disaster associated inter-professional education.