Published online September 1, 2006
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 3 September 2006, pp. e620-e626 (doi:10.1542/peds.2005-1875)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Martin, S. D.
Right arrow Articles by Lynch, J. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Martin, S. D.
Right arrow Articles by Lynch, J. A.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice

ARTICLE

A National Survey of Terrorism Preparedness Training Among Pediatric, Family Practice, and Emergency Medicine Programs

Shelly D. Martin, MDa, Anneke C. Bush, ScD, MHSb and Julia A. Lynch, MDc

a San Antonio Military Pediatric Center
b Department of Clinical Investigations, Wilford Hall Medical Center
c San Antonio Military, Pediatric Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas

OBJECTIVES. Domestic terrorism is a real threat focusing on a need to engage in effective emergency preparedness planning and training. Front-line physicians are an important component of any emergency preparedness plan. Potential victims of an attack include children who have unique physiologic and psychological vulnerabilities in disasters. Front-line providers need to have adequate training to effectively participate in local planning initiatives and to recognize and treat casualties including children. The goal of the survey was to assess the current state of terrorism preparedness training, including child victims, by emergency medicine, family practice, and pediatric residency programs in the United States and to assess methods of training and barriers to establishing effective training.

METHODS. A survey was e-mailed to a comprehensive list of all US pediatric, family practice, and emergency medicine residency programs 3 times between September 2003 and January 2004. The survey measured the perceived risk of terrorist attack, level of training by type of attack, level of training regarding children, method of training, and barriers to training.

RESULTS. Overall, 21% of programs responded (46 of 182 pediatric, 75 of 400 family practice, and 29 of 125 emergency medicine programs). Across all of the event types, emergency medicine programs were more likely to report adequate/comprehensive training. However, <50% of emergency medicine programs report adequate training for children. Didactic classroom-based lectures were the most commonly used method of training. Emergency medicine programs were more likely to use scenario-based exercises. Among programs that use scenario exercises, 93% report that they never (40%) or only sometimes (53%) incorporate child victims into the scenarios. Time, funding, access to subject matter experts, and availability of training material are the most important barriers to effective training.

CONCLUSIONS. Children are a precious national resource and a vulnerable population in disasters. Despite the availability of terrorism preparedness funding, these data suggest that we are failing to provide adequate training to front-line providers who may care for children in a catastrophic domestic terrorist event.

Key Words: terrorism • residency training • medical education • child • pediatrics • emergency medicine • family practice • biological agents • chemical agents • thermomechanical explosions • radiation

Abbreviations: EM—emergency medicine • FP—family practice

Accepted Mar 6, 2006.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CLIN PEDIATRHome page
E. P. Schobitz, J. M. Schmidt, and M. P. Poirier
Biologic and Chemical Terrorism in Children: An Assessment of Residents' Knowledge
Clinical Pediatrics, April 1, 2008; 47(3): 267 - 270.
[Abstract] [PDF]