Disaster Training–How Much Educational Impact Does it Really Have?

Abstract

Introduction:In Singapore, disaster training and preparation are taken seriously. Many exercises and training sessions have been planned and run yearly with the hope of being able to respond effectively to an emergent disaster. This presentation aims to evaluate the effectiveness of our training programs to determine if the learner participants are equipped to manage disasters when they happen based on their learning objectives.Method:The disaster training programs that Singapore General Hospital participates in, both nationally and internally, were analyzed based on Bloom’s taxonomy for educational objectives. At the lowest level, the learner demonstrates the ability to remember the facts that he learned, followed by understanding the concepts, applying the information, analyzing the learning undertaken, evaluating his performance, and creating new methods to learn or train to improve his performance.Results:Based on the analysis of the various exercises and training sessions, most learning objectives are pegged to the remembering to application levels (90%) while very few participants, especially the instructors and evaluators (<10%) may achieve learning objectives of being able to analyze and evaluate the training sessions. As disaster training involves multiple interprofessional teams there is also a risk of rapidly diminishing retention of knowledge and skills over time because of the high turnover of manpower especially from residents and medical officers who are attached to the departments for a few months.Conclusion:There is room for more targeted disaster training aimed at more participants and with learning objectives determined at the higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy, at least to achieve the ability to analyze and evaluate one’s performance for improvement. Creating opportunities for more participants to be able to do that would be a challenge.