Collaboration Between Civil and Military Means for Teaching Disaster Medicine

Abstract

Introduction:Training in disaster medicine can be partly theoretical but it must include a large practical part. If part of it can be developed through exercises in virtual reality or on a computer, the realization of life-size disaster exercises bringing together all the disciplines is of great help in this learning. Exercises of such magnitude are difficult to carry out in civilian life for reasons of resources and cost. We therefore wanted to develop this disaster medicine course with the three French-speaking civil universities but also with the Royal Military School for the practical part.Method:Collaboration agreements were established between three civilian universities (ULB, UCLouvain, ULiège) and the Royal Military School. The army thus provides the infrastructures of the Belgian military units to organize the exercises, personnel, means of make-up, vehicles, and security, all free of cost. Coordination meetings before exercises are also organized during the year by the army.Results:The exercises are organized in complete safety conditions on military fields, isolated from the civilian environment without disturbing the daily functioning of civilians. Access is authorized and organized for the various disciplines (firefighters, police, red cross and other participants). Nearly 100 people (victims, firemen, policemen,...) and 50 vehicles per exercise make the scenario completely believable. Different scenarios are repeated six times to complete the training of 80 students.Conclusion:The collaboration between civilians and military has made it possible to set up quality training integrating a large part of life-size exercises at no cost and in complete safety. This ends the course by integrating in practice all the knowledge learned during the theoretical part and the virtual exercises.