title: Education and Training of Emergency Medical Teams: Recommendations for a Global Operational Learning Framework.
abstract: An increasing number of international emergency medical teams are deployed to assist disaster-affected populations worldwide. Since Haiti earthquake those teams have been criticised for ill adapted care, lack of preparedness in addition to not coordinating with the affected country healthcare system. The Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) initiative, as part of the Word Health Organization's Global Health Emergency Workforce program, aims to address these shortcomings by improved EMT coordination, and mechanisms to ensure quality and accountability of national and international EMTs. An essential component to reach this goal is appropriate education and training. Multiple disaster education and training programs are available. However, most are centred on individuals' professional development rather than on the EMTs operational performance. Moreover, no common overarching or standardised training frameworks exist. In this report, an expert panel review and discuss the current approaches to disaster education and training and propose a three-step operational learning framework that could be used for EMTs globally. The proposed framework includes the following steps: 1) ensure professional competence and license to practice, 2) support adaptation of technical and non-technical professional capacities into the low-resource and emergency context and 3) prepare for an effective team performance in the field. A combination of training methodologies is also recommended, including individual theory based education, immersive simulations and team training. Agreed curriculum and open access training materials for EMTs need to be further developed, ideally through collaborative efforts between WHO, operational EMT organizations, universities, professional bodies and training agencies.  Keywords: disasters; education; emergencies; global health; learning.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters Karolinska Institutet.
authors.forename: Nieves
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amat Camacho
authors.affiliation: Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Frederick M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Burkle
authors.affiliation: Research Center in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science applied to Medicine (CRIMEDIM); Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: Pier Luigi
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Ingrassia
authors.affiliation: CRIMEDIM - Research Center in Emergency and Disaster Medicine and Computer Science applied to Medical Practice; Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ragazzoni
authors.affiliation: Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Redmond
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Project - Policy, Practice and Evaluation Unit, Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Norton
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, Health System and Policy, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: von Schreeb