Anesthesiologists play a pivotal role in mass-casualty incidents management. Disaster medicine is part of the anesthesiologist’s core skills; however, dedicated training is still scarce and, often, it does not follow a standardized program.

We designed and delivered a crash course in disaster medicine for Italian anesthesiology residents participating in the nationwide program, Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) Academy Critical Emergency Medicine 2019. Residents totaling 145, from 39 programs, participated in a 75-minute workstation on the principles of disaster management. Following this, each participant was involved in a full-scale mass-casualty drill. A plenary debriefing followed to present simulation data, maximize feedback, and highlight all situations needing improvement.

Overall, participant performance was good: Triage accuracy was 85% prehospital and 84% in-hospital. Evacuation flow respected triage priority. During the debriefing, residents were very open to share and reflect on their experiences. A narrative qualitative analysis of the debriefing highlights that many participants felt overwhelmed by events during the exercise. Participants in coordination positions shared how they appreciated the need to switch from a clinical mindset to a managerial role.

This was an invaluable experience for anesthesiology trainees, providing them with the skill set to understand the fundamental principles of a mass-casualty response.

Universities have fallen victim to many disasters over the years, ranging from those caused by natural hazards to campus violence. Most institutions have disaster plans in place and attempt to update those plans on a regular basis. Yet historically, universities do a poor job in testing those emergency operation plans as part of their routine preparation and mitigation practices. In July 2008, Philadelphia University participated in a full-scale, multi-agency exercise in order to test their disaster plan. The purpose of this study was to examine the lessons learned from the drill, analyze the benefits of the drill, and determine if the drill brought value to the university.

Interviews were conducted with 21 of the 25 university personnel who participated in the exercise. The interviews were taped and analyzed with the use of qualitative methods and content analysis techniques.

The emerging themes from the study included the benefits and values of the drill, the lessons learned, how perceptions were changed after the drill, views about the current level of disaster preparedness, and recommendations for improving disaster management practices.

The results demonstrated that the disaster drill was a valuable learning experience for the participants. The university benefited from the drill in multiple ways, learned many lessons, and discovered ways to begin improving their disaster management practices.