Supporting disaster healthcare professionals: A practical and virtual approach

SummaryIn this paper, we report on a questionnaire undertaken to evaluate an innovative programme of education for healthcare professionals in the field of aid and disaster healthcare that has been delivered by a partnership of three Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across Europe since 1999. The development of this programme was a direct response to the stated needs of Non Government Organisations (NGOs) and military healthcare professionals as well as those aspiring to enter this complex area of healthcare.The aim of the project was to evaluate whether the programme was meeting the needs of students and to elicit what improvements could be made to the programme in order to enhance the learning experience. A questionnaire was developed to gather data across seven areas. It was subsequently analysed using the report and statistics features available within WebCT’s Quiz/Questionnaire tool, in addition to the spreadsheet software MS Excel. The results of the questionnaire confirm that the programme, while successful in many ways, needs to be modified on a regular basis to reflect relevant worldwide changes and would benefit greatly from increased interaction between faculty and students.