Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Amongst Emergency Medicine Residents in Singapore

Abstract

Introduction:Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians are crucial members of the disaster medical response. In Singapore, the EM residency program spans five years, with junior residents (JRs) progressing to senior residents (SRs) in three years after passing the MRCEM exam or its local equivalent. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions toward disaster medicine among EM residents in Singapore.Method:A cross-sectional study was performed for 90 EM residents for the academic year 2020/2021. A self-administered, 44-item online questionnaire based on the Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ) was delivered via GoogleForms™. This assessed familiarity through 10 dimensions, with a minimal score of one and a maximal score of five. The survey also included questions on attitudes towards emergency preparedness and preferred learning methods. Data was collected from May 2020 to November 2020, and analyzed with SPSS.Results:The response rate was 41%. Of these, 75% were JRs and 25% SRs. The overall mean familiarity with disaster preparedness was 2.43 ± 0.90. There was no statistically significant difference of overall mean familiarity between JRs and SRs. Overall, they fared best in the dimension on isolation & quarantine with a mean score of 2.91 ±1.05 and worst in the dimension on psychological issues with a mean score of 2.34 ±0.95.Residents felt that disaster medicine was relevant to their practice with a mean score of 4.22 ± 0.98. They also felt that it was necessary to learn more about it, with a mean score of 4.16 ±0.90. The highest ranked preferred learning method was workshop/simulation training (45.5%), followed by lectures (23.4%).Conclusion:EM Residents have a poor overall familiarity with emergency preparedness, however, they recognized its importance and relevance. The preferred formats of learning were simulation/workshop training. More must be done to improve the overall competency of EM residents in disaster medical response.