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Ready to Respond: A Survey of Interdisciplinary Health-Care Students and Administrators on Disaster Management Competencies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2019

Rachel L. Charney ,
Roberta P. Lavin ,
Annah Bender ,
Joanne C. Langan ,
Rick S. Zimmerman  and
Tener Goodwin Veenema Open the ORCID record for Tener Goodwin Veenema [Opens in a new window]
Rachel L. Charney*
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri
Roberta P. Lavin
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
Annah Bender
Affiliation:
College of Nursing, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
Joanne C. Langan
Affiliation:
Saint Louis University School of Nursing, St. Louis, Missouri
Rick S. Zimmerman
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Nursing, New Orleans, Louisiana
Tener Goodwin Veenema
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Rachel Charney, 1465 S. Grand Blvd., Saint Louis, MO 63127 (e-mail: rachel.charney@health.slu.edu).
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Abstract

Background:

A sense of competency and confidence in disaster management is linked to response willingness and efficacy. This study assessed current health-care student disaster competency curricula and resultant confidence.

Methods:

A survey was sent to students and administrators in nurse practitioner (NP), master of public health (MPH), and medical/osteopathic schools (MD/DO), assessing curriculum coverage of 15 disaster management competencies (1-4, total 15-60), and confidence in performing 15 related behaviors (1-7, total 15-105). One-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post-hoc and Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to examine group differences.

Results:

A total of 729 students and 72 administrators completed the survey. Low coverage of all topics was reported by both students and administrators (mean 24.4; SD 9.6). Among students, NP students (21.66 ± 8.56) scored significantly lower than MD/DO (23.32 ± 8.19; P < 0.001) and MPH students (26.58 ± 9.06; P < 0.001) on curriculum coverage. Both administrators and students expressed low confidence in competence, with students significantly lower (P < 0.001). NP students scored higher (63.12 ± 20.69; P < 0.001) than both MPH (54.85 ± 17.82) and MD/DO (51.17 ± 19.71; P < 0.001) students.

Conclusions:

Health-care students report low coverage of topics considered to be necessary disaster response competencies, as well as their confidence to execute functions. This may negatively impact willingness and ability of these professionals to respond effectively in a disaster.

Keywords

collaborationcompetenciesdisaster responsedisaster preparednessstudent
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 14 , Issue 6 , December 2020 , pp. 705 - 712
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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