Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Crit Care Med. Sep 9, 2021; 10(5): 163-169
Published online Sep 9, 2021. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v10.i5.163
Medical students as disaster volunteers: A strategy for improving emergency department surge response in times of crisis
R Ponampalam, Jeremy Zhenwen Pong, Xiang-Yi Wong
R Ponampalam, Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
Jeremy Zhenwen Pong, Xiang-Yi Wong, Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 169857, Singapore
Author contributions: All authors researched literature, conceived and administered the study, and drafted the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: R Ponampalam, FRCS (Ed), MBBS, Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Block 1 Level 3, Singapore 169608, Singapore. ponampalam@singhealth.com.sg
Received: March 16, 2021
Peer-review started: March 16, 2021
First decision: May 13, 2021
Revised: May 25, 2021
Accepted: August 19, 2021
Article in press: August 19, 2021
Published online: September 9, 2021
Abstract

Disasters resulting in mass casualty incidents can rapidly overwhelm the Emergency Department (ED). To address critical manpower needs in the ED’s disaster response, medical student involvement has been advocated. Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School is in proximity to Singapore General Hospital and represents an untapped manpower resource. With appropriate training and integration into ED disaster workflows, medical students can be leveraged upon as qualified manpower. This review provides a snapshot of the conceptualization and setting up of the Disaster Volunteer Corps – a programme where medical students were recruited to receive regular training and assessment from emergency physicians on disaster response principles to fulfil specific roles during a crisis, while working as part of a team under supervision. We discuss overall strategy and benefits to stakeholders, emphasizing the close symbiotic relationship between academia and healthcare services.

Keywords: Disaster medicine, Disaster response, Medical students, Volunteers, Medical education

Core Tip: The Disaster Volunteer Corps provides a unique way of teaching medical students disaster medicine principles in a hands-on experiential format, while simultaneously enhancing operational readiness of the hospital in times of disaster. This model of collaboration between university education and healthcare services provides a feasible model of structured volunteerism.