A cross-sectional study on the response abilities of clinical and preventive medical students in public health emergency

Inconsistent training programs for public health emergency (PHE) have been criticized as a contributing factor in PHE's managerial weak points. In response, to analyze the relevant discrepancies among the medical students in the class of 2021 from Xiangya School of Medicine of Central South University, the present study conducted an online questionnaire survey using convenience sampling. The questionnaire comprised four sections, including the basic information, the subjective cognition in PHE, the rescue knowledge and capabilities of PHE, and the mastery of PHE regulations and psychological intervention abilities. To compare the abovementioned aspects, related data were collected from 235 medical students divided into two groups, namely, clinical medical students (Group A) and preventive medical students (Group B). We found a more positive attitude in PHE (P = 0.014) and a better grasp of the PHE classification (P = 0.027) and the reporting system in group B compared with group A. In addition, even if group B showed the same response capability in communicable diseases as group A, the former had less access to clinical practice, resulting in poorer performance in the noncommunicable diseases during a fire, flood, and traffic accidents (P = 0.002, P = 0.018, P = 0.002). The different emphasis of each training program contributed to the uneven distribution of abilities and cognition. Meanwhile, the lack of an integrated PHE curriculum led to unsystematic expertise. Hence, to optimize the PHE management system, equal attention should be paid to medical students with diverse majors along with a complete integrated PHE curriculum.