Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T17:45:19.005Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Medical Student Experience With Disasters and Disaster Response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Abstract

Medical students from New York City were integrally involved in the response by health professionals to aid the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. The present study was performed to investigate the emotional impact of this involvement on medical students from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. One hundred fifty-seven students responded to a mail survey that explored their personal and professional involvement in the disaster as well as their psychiatric symptoms in the week after the event and at the time of the survey (3.5 months after the event). Findings suggested a differential emotional impact on female students and on students involved in less supervised and more emotionally intense activities. However, involvement in the relief effort, per se, did not contribute to psychiatric symptomatology. It may have been associated with enhanced professional self-esteem among the students. These findings have implications for future planning of psychiatric response to disasters.

Type
Original Research
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Roberts, LW, Warner, TD, Lyketsos, C, Frank, E, Ganzini, L, Carter, D. Perceptions of academic vulnerability associated with personal illness: a study of 1,027 students at nine medical schools. Compr Psychiatry. 2001;42:115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Kent, G, Kunkler, AJ. Medical student involvement in a major disaster. J Med Educ. 1992;26:8791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Kent, G. Reactions of medical students affected by a major disaster. Acad Med. 1991;66:368370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Sansone, RA, Roman, EJ. The experience of psychiatric residents with disaster support: a descriptive report. J Okla Med Assoc. 1996;89:238241.Google ScholarPubMed
5.Paton, D. Disasters and helpers: psychological dynamics and implications for counseling. Counseling Psych Quarterly. 1989;2:303321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Yehuda, R. Post-traumatic stress disorder. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:108114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed