[Education of bioterrorism preparedness and response in healthcare-associated colleges--current status and learning objectives development].
OBJECTIVE
Bioterrorism (BT) preparedness and response plans are particularly important among healthcare workers who will be among the first involved in the outbreak situations. This study was conducted to evaluate the current status of education for BT preparedness and response in healthcare-related colleges/junior colleges and to develop learning objectives for use in their regular curricula.


METHODS
We surveyed all medical colleges/schools, colleges/junior colleges that train nurses, emergency medical technicians or clinical pathologists, and 10% (randomly selected) of them that train general hygienists in Korea. The survey was conducted via mail from March to July of 2007. We surveyed 35 experts to determine if there was a consensus of learning objectives among healthcare workers.


RESULTS
Only 31.3% of medical colleges/schools and 13.3% of nursing colleges/junior colleges had education programs that included BT preparedness and responses in their curricula. The most common reason given for the lack of BT educational programs was 'There is not much need for education regarding BT preparedness and response in Korea'. None of the colleges/junior colleges that train clinical pathologists, or general hygienists had an education program for BT response. After evaluating the expert opinions, we developed individual learning objectives designed specifically for educational institutions.


CONCLUSIONS
There were only a few colleges/junior colleges that enforce the requirement to provide education for BT preparedness and response in curricula. It is necessary to raise the perception of BT preparedness and response to induce the schools to provide such programs.
Lee
Hagyung
H
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University.
Chun
Byung-Chul
BC
Yi
Sung Eun
SE
Oh
Hyang Soon
HS
Wang
Sun Ju
SJ
Sohn
Jang Wook
JW
Kim
Jee-Hee
JH
D023482:Bioterrorism; D003479:Curriculum; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D012576:Schools, Health Occupations / Q000458:organization & administration*