Student independent volunteer activities in university hospital disaster training

Abstract

For disasters in which medical resources are scarce, the means to secure and utilize medical resources become a challenge. The students have been assisting with disaster recovery in addition to receiving training for disasters under the instruction of respective schools and hospitals. If students are able to carry out activities on their own, then the human resources in health care that were allocated to support students can be allocated to provide restoration assistance. In order to verify whether students are capable of independently providing disaster recovery assistance, a student volunteer office was set up for disaster training at a university hospital in order to provide a training in which the students themselves lead and direct volunteer activities. As a result, under the instruction of the student volunteer office, the student volunteers transported and guided the patients, carried medical materials, and searched the hospital for the families of the patients. It was found that medical students who are engaged in clinical practice at the hospital can carry out adequate support activities in disaster training without advance preparation. It is believed that the implementation of medical students engaged in clinical practice who are independently carrying out volunteer activities in the hospital will lead to the effective use of limited medical resources.