A Study Protocol on Disaster Medicine Preparedness among Medical Students in a Public Military Medical School in Malaysia: Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Readiness to Practice

Abstract

Disaster preparedness is defined as the measures taken to prepare for or decrease the impact of disaster. Medical students’ perception on disaster preparedness provides further insights into their learning needs, strengthens the disaster medicine curriculum, and improves their personal professional development. There is scarce information regarding this topic and disaster medicine education is scattered in the current medical curriculum. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge (K), attitude (A) and readiness to practice (rP) towards disaster preparedness among medical students in a military university. A cross-sectional study will be conducted among all the medical students in Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia using a self-administered validated questionnaire via a Google Forms. The calculated minimum sample size is 176 using the twoproportion formula via Power and Sample Size (PS) software. The questionnaire consists of (a) demographic data; (b) knowledge of disaster; (c) attitude; (d) readiness to practice with responses categorised as high, moderate and low. Independent t-test and chi-square test are used to evaluate the bivariate association between demographic data with K, A and rP. Multiple linear regression is used to evaluate association of rP based on predictor variables (K, A and sociodemographic factors). A preliminary result of the study will be presented in conferences and scientific meetings. This research contributes valuable insights to the field of disaster medicine education, guiding curriculum development, and informing policy decisions within institutions.