Awareness of family physician residents of their roles in disaster health management: a cross-sectional study in Turkey

AIM: Family physicians are role models for their societies in disaster management and have an important place in it. This study was carried out during the specialty training of the residents, who are currently family physicians fighting against COVID-19 in the field, and was aimed to identify the awareness levels of residents regarding the roles and duties of family physicians before, during, and after disasters and to increase their awareness of disaster medicine and management. BACKGROUND: The duties and responsibilities of a family physician in disasters should be a part of their specialty training. This study has contributed to the limited literature, increased awareness, and opened a new avenue of research for studies to be conducted with family physicians by demonstrating the current situation of family physicians in disaster management. METHODS: This is an observational and descriptive study. The knowledge, experience, opinions, willingness, attitudes of the residents, and the awareness levels of the residents regarding their roles and duties in a disaster were evaluated along with their sociodemographic information. The surveys were applied in the family medicine clinics of the all residents by the interview method (n = 233). FINDINGS: Only 9.2% of the residents stated that they had received training on disaster medicine where they currently work. The knowledge level of the residents on this subject was found as ‘Unsure’. In total, 80% of the residents stated that family physicians should have a role in disasters. It was found that 83.3% of the residents had never joined a disaster drill, 94.3% had never participated in making or applying a disaster plan, and 97.7% had never worked in any disaster. CONCLUSION: The residents participating in the study lacked not only information on disaster management but also experience. The residents’ willingness to receive training, work voluntarily, significantly question the curriculum, and specialize in disaster medicine were a positive outcome.