Critical Concepts in Disaster Medicine for Saudi Arabian Emergency Residency Programs: A Delphi Study

Abstract

Introduction:

Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Middle East, has suffered numerous terrorist attacks and is the location of Hajj, one of the world’s largest annual mass gatherings. Healthcare providers’ pre-incident knowledge and understanding of basic disaster medicine (DM) concepts are crucial for a unified and effective health-system response. Introducing healthcare providers to best practices is a stated vision of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. Standardizing DM curriculum taught to physicians during their residency training will assist this goal.

Aim:

To produce expert consensus on the most critical DM topics for the residency curriculum in emergency medicine (EM) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods:

Utilizing a Delphi approach, a panel of Saudi Arabian experts in DM and EM residency directors were surveyed regarding potential DM topics for EM residency curricula. The first round comprised of open-ended questions seeking lists of suggested DM curriculum topics. In subsequent rounds, each participant received a questionnaire asking them to review the items contributed in the first round, summarized by the investigation team. The participants rated each item on a five-point Likert Scale to establish preliminary priorities and added their comments. In further rounds, participants reviewed and prioritized subjects until they reached a consensus of >=80%.

Results:

The study is ongoing and full data will be available in the new year.

Discussion:

This expert consensus from major stakeholders can be used to improve the foundation of the DM curriculum. The Delphi Method gives an evidence-based approach to identification and prioritization of subjects, which should be integrated within the Saudi Arabian Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum. It also can be used as a cornerstone for implementation in other medical education programs across the Kingdom in the future.