Objectives: Italy often experiences major events, such as earthquakes, floods, and migrant shipwrecks. Current and future global challenges for health workers are made up by climate change, pandemics, and wars. In this work, we will assess the state-of-art of training and interest towards these challenges among Italian post-degree public health schools.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Italy in June 2023 among Italian public health residents. The study investigated training levels and updates regarding emergencies in Italian residencies. It also analyzed interest and importance of topic, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and sources of information.
Results: Of 289 respondents, 86.2% deemed the topic important and 74.4% expressed interest. 90.1% pointed out the lack of dedicated courses and 93.1% of specialized master's programs. Perceived importance in the topic was associated with the desire to attend dedicated conferences. As for COVID-19, 24.6% recognized the importance of this topic pre-pandemic, while 50.9% raised awareness during the pandemic.
Conclusions: This survey shows the need for the offer of emergency training programs in Italian public health schools. Professionals in public health can make a great contribution to emergencies, not only in preparedness, but also in response and recovery phases.
Keywords: disaster medicine; emergency preparedness; pandemics; public health practice; public health professional; training.