Current situation and training needs of disaster medicine-related knowledge in community-based populations in Yangpu district of Shanghai / 上海预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective] To explore disaster response capability and the vulnerability as well as the current level and training needs of disaster medicine knowledge in urban populations . [ Methods] Five communities in Yangpu District of Shanghai were randomly enrolled in this study .The study populations were then stratified by age groups .A total of 1700 residents were recruited , 1643 of which completed a structured questionnaire designed by the investigators . [ Results] Eight-nine percent of the residents be-lieved the importance of understanding disaster medicine -related knowledge .The correct answer rates of “pro-tective measures of nuclear leakage issues” and “self-rescue measures in a high building fire” reached over 80%;however , the overall correct answer rate of “cardiorespiratory resuscitation operation” was less than 40%.The main channels of community residents accessing disaster medicine knowledge were mainly news -papers, magazines, and internet (52.1%);whereas only 5.3%of them obtained the knowledge from school education .Community residents most liked to obtain “first aid skills”and“basic theory of disaster medicine”through formal lectures (72.4%). [Conclusion] School education lacks disaster-related knowledge , pos-sibly resulting in the fact that community residents have a limited ability to save both oneself and others in disaster .There are significant differences between residents with different education levels .Community resi-dents have limited knowledge of disaster occurrence and development , and lack capabilities of self-rescue and mutual aid .Colleges should increase the contents of disaster medicine education in their curriculum .Disaster education should be enforced in school education .Continued education and simulation of disaster-related knowledge should be regularly offered to community residents to greatly reduce their vulnerability to disasters .