O3002: Pediatric Disaster Medicine Education: Disaster Education in Pediatric Residencies in the United States. are We Ready for a Disaster?

Background: When disaster strikes, children are vulnerable on a variety of levels including physically, mentally, and emotionally, as seen with the repercussions suffered by so many children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
As pediatricians, we are obligated to advocate for child health, but are we appropriately training our residents to do this in a disaster situation?
Currently there is no standardization or requirement of pediatric disaster medicine education during pediatric residency. There is a current discrepancy in pediatric disaster medicine (PDM) educational opportunities among different programs and a hypothesis that many pediatric residents are lacking PDM knowledge and training to help their patients during a disaster.

Objectives:
1)To survey pediatric residents from a variety of programs across the country to assess disaster medicine education exposure and comfort level in responding to a disaster
2)To determine if pediatric residents feel a standardized PDM curriculum built into their training would be seen as useful for their future careers

Methods: An IRB approved voluntary and anonymous survey was created and distributed to pediatric residency trainees nationally. This survey was distributed through multiple sources including
- The 2 pediatric disaster care centers of excellence (COE)
- Region V for kids
- Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management (WRAPEM)
- American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Pediatric Trainees (AAP SOPT)
- Emails sent to pediatric residency program directors asking to send the survey to their residents
The survey consisted of 28 questions focused on
- Exposure to PDM education during residency
- Feelings of responsibility/preparedness during a disaster
- Interest in having formal disaster medicine training during residency
- Feeling of importance of including PDM into residency

Results: We received 143 pediatric resident responses from a variety of programs and training levels.
84% of responders felt responsible to respond during a disaster in their hospital and 83% felt responsible to assist with a disaster response in the community. However, 70% did not feel prepared to care for children in a disaster event (Figure 1).
83% report not receiving any disaster training during residency but
98% expressed interest in having formal disaster medicine training (Figure 2). 95% felt it was at least somewhat important to include a PDM curriculum during their residency training.
89% responded that they want more formal disaster medicine training during residency.

Conclusion: Among the pediatric resident survey respondents, majority felt unprepared, but responsible to respond to disasters involving children. Overwhelmingly, residents are interested in including PDM in their residency training.
Families and communities look to pediatricians as experts when disasters affect their children. A standardized PDM curriculum is important to ensure preparedness among our future pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists.