Evaluation of Health Management Education Curriculum in terms of Disaster Management

Abstract

The Department of Health Management trains managers for health institutions serving in the public and private sectors. The health sector is in a very important place due to the duties and responsibilities it undertakes in the event of a disaster. For this reason, health professionals are expected to have a good knowledge of basic disaster response knowledge and skills such as disaster management and disaster medicine. In the literature review, when it comes to the disaster preparedness of health workers, only physicians and nurses draw attention, and health managers remain in the background. In this study, the curricula of universities providing health management education were analyzed in terms of disaster management. In this context, it was investigated whether there are first aid, public health, disaster management and occupational health and safety courses in the curricula. A total of 56 public universities providing health management education in Turkey were included in the study. When the curricula were analyzed; First Aid course is compulsory in only 7 universities. In 25, it is included in the elective course pool. Public health course is compulsory in 27 and elective in 20 universities. Disaster management course is compulsory in 11 and elective in 30 universities. Occupational health and safety course is compulsory in 11 and elective in 33 universities. Considering that the graduates may be in positions such as prevention of disasters, preparation of disaster plan or intervention in the hospitals where they will work, it is observed that the courses that may be related to disasters that they take during their undergraduate education are not sufficient.