There has been a recent trend in medical research towards a more collaborative relationship between statisticians and clinical investigators. This has led to an increased focus on the most efficient and effective ways to structure, conduct, and measure the impact of organizations that provide statistical services to clinical investigators. Several recent guidelines and recommendations on the conduct of statistical consulting services(SCSs) have been made in response to this need, focusing on larger SCSs consisting primarily of faculty and staff statisticians. However, the application of these recommendations to consulting services primarily staffed by graduate students, which have the dual role of providing a professional service and training, remains unclear.

Guidelines and recommendations, primarily from the Clinical and Translational Science (CTSA) consortium, were applied to a SCS staffed primarily by graduate students in an academic health center. A description of the organizational structure and outcomes after 3 years of operation is presented.

The guidelines recommended by the CTSA consortium and other groups were successfully incorporated into the graduate consulting laboratory. At almost one new project request per week, the consulting laboratory demonstrated a large bandwidth and had an excellent feedback from investigators.

Guidelines developed for larger statistical consulting organizations are able to be applied in student-led consultation organizations. Outcomes and recommendations from 3.5 years of operation are used to describe the successes and challenges we have encountered.

Education of graduate students in international disaster relief (IDR) is important. The authors introduced this practical education in Saga University in Japan.

The authors performed a mass casualty disaster exercise involving the simulated IDR from 06 October to 08 December 2008 (every Monday, for two hours/week, for a total of 12 hours). The exercise was designed to simulate the medical relief operation of the Indian Ocean tsunami that occurred in December 2004. Logistical functions also were involved. Thirteen students participated the exercise, and they were assigned to one of two groups. Each group included one Indonesian doctor who was a PhD candidate, while die remaining students were achieving a Masters in nursing. The official language used during the exercise was English. This study reports on the experience and evaluation of the students.

More than 90% of the students answered that this exercise was very instructive and interesting. They rated the simulation exercise very favorably and believed that the knowledge gained through the exercise would be beneficial in the near future.

This kind of practical education is valuable in disaster medicine and disaster nursing training for graduate students in Japan.