title: Evaluation of a new community-based curriculum in disaster medicine for undergraduates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nowadays, many medical schools include training in disaster medicine in undergraduate studies. This study evaluated the efficacy of a disaster medicine curriculum recently designed for Saudi Arabian medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 15 male and 14 female students in their fourth, fifth or sixth year at Jazan University Medical School, Saudi Arabia. The course was held at the Research Center in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Sciences Applied to the Medical Practice in Novara, Italy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall mean score on a test given before the course was 41.0 % and it increased to 67.7 % on the post-test (Wilcoxon test for paired samples: z = 4.71, p < 0.0001). There were no significant differences between the mean scores of males and females, or between students in their fourth, fifth or sixth year of medical school.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show that this curriculum is effective for teaching disaster medicine to undergraduate medical students. Adoption of this course would help to increase the human resources available for dealing with disaster situations.
authors: CRIMEDIM - Research Centre in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science Applied to Medical Practice, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy. dr.nidaaa@gmail.com.|Disaster Medicine Unit, Mohammad Bin Naif Medical Center, King Fahd Security College, P O Box 89489, Riyadh, 11682, Saudi Arabia. dr.nidaaa@gmail.com.
authors: Nidaa
authors: N
authors: Bajow
authors: CRIMEDIM - Research Centre in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science Applied to Medical Practice, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors: Ahmadreza
authors: A
authors: Djalali
authors: CRIMEDIM - Research Centre in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science Applied to Medical Practice, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors: Pier Luigi
authors: PL
authors: Ingrassia
authors: CRIMEDIM - Research Centre in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science Applied to Medical Practice, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors: Luca
authors: L
authors: Ragazzoni
authors: Medical School of Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
authors: Hussein
authors: H
authors: Ageely
authors: Medical School of Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
authors: Ibrahim
authors: I
authors: Bani
authors: CRIMEDIM - Research Centre in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science Applied to Medical Practice, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
authors: Francesco Della
authors: FD
authors: Corte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003479:Curriculum; D054597:Disaster Medicine / Q000193:education*; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013337:Students, Medical; D023481:Terrorism
keywords: Curriculum; Disaster medicine; Saudi Arabia