Table 1. Summary of the selected study articles (n = 64).
AAMC: Association of American Medical Colleges; MCQ: multiple-choice questions; OSCE: Objective Structured Clinical Examination.
| Study reference | Year | Country | Type of study | Study population | Study method used | Study analysis method |
| Cummings G et al. [27] | 2004 | Canada | Survey | Medical students (undergraduate, fellowship, postgraduate) | Survey questionnaire | Survey analysis |
| Parrish AR et al. [33] | 2005 | USA | Interventional study | Medical students (72 2nd year - 2003-2004; 2004-2005) and course faculty (6 military experts) | Descriptive review /post-test and post-attitudinal questionnaire | Descriptive analysis/self-evaluation, attitudes & knowledge of the preparedness |
| Cummings GE et al. [34] | 2005 | Canada | Survey | 10 undergraduate and 14 fellowship program representatives (48 representatives and 15 Canadian medical schools) | Survey questionnaire (internet-based) | Survey analysis |
| Markenson D et al. [35] | 2005 | USA | Review study | 4 medical schools (physicians, public health, dental, nursing) | Author review of existing practices to deal with bioterrorism and development of core competencies for future | Expert analysis |
| Cummings G et al. [26] | 2006 | Canada | Systematic review | Medical students, physicians, medical military | Research studies critical review | Descriptive analysis |
| Subbarao I et al. [25] | 2008 | USA | Systematic review and Delphi study | All health professionals including medical students | Research studies expert working group review (18 persons)/3 round Delphi study | Review process + 3-stage Delphi process |
| Altintas KH et al. [18] | 2009 | Turkey | Survey | Medical students (191 1st-year and 232 6th-year students) | Survey questionnaire | Chi-square test |
| Kaiser HE et al. [36] | 2009 | USA | Survey | 523 medical students | Web-based survey questionnaire | Descriptive data analysis |
| Merlin MA et al. [37] | 2010 | USA | Survey | 49 (4th year) medical students | Pre- and post-rotation questionnaires | Simple paired t-test |
| Kaji AH et al. [38] | 2010 | USA | Pilot study | 6 medical students (4th year) | Summative feedback questionnaire-structure & utility of the course, 73-item oral exam, final lecture present | Survey analysis |
| Pfenninger EG et al. [39] | 2010 | Germany | Pilot study | Medical students, course faculty, and representatives of professional, societal, and government bodies | Curriculum development 6-step approach. Pilot testing (faculty & student feedback pilot versions of curriculum) during 2 years (pilot courses). Survey of all physicians (n = 477), German county disaster management agencies & district health authorities for additional input into disaster medicine needs competencies. Pre- and post-course questionnaire (oral &/or written final examination, comparing test results pre & post program, student & faculty summative and formative course evaluation | Survey analysis |
| Franc-Law J et al. [40] | 2010 | Italy | Prospective observational cohort | 22 medical students by year of education (random 50% interventional group; 50% control group) | Performance indicator scoring system, student evaluation questionnaire | R statistical analysis, χ2 test |
| Kaji AH et al. [41] | 2010 | USA | Descriptive and qualitative analysis | Medical students | Scored evaluation of the seminar, focus group discussion | Descriptive and qualitative analysis |
| Scott LA et al. [42] | 2010 | USA | Pilot study-Delphi study | Medical students (4th year) | Pre- and post-course questionnaire | Modified Delphi technique |
| Saiboon IM et al. [43] | 2011 | Malaysia | Survey | 45 medical students (5th year) | Pre- and post-lecture questionnaire (14 points) | Paired t-test |
| Carney JK et al. [44] | 2011 | USA | Survey | 3 classes of 115 medical students each/different institutions/different years: 1st, 2nd, and 4th year | Survey of workshops | Survey analysis |
| Datta R et al. [45] | 2012 | India | Review article | Undergraduate and postgraduate medical students and doctors | Author review, pre and post-lecture questionnaire | Author opinion, survey analysis |
| Smith J et al. [46] | 2012 | USA | Pilot survey | Educational liaison of 29 medical schools accredited by AAMC | Electronic on-line survey | Survey analysis |
| Scott LA et al. [47] | 2012 | USA | Delphi Study | 10 medical students and 17 emergency physicians, nurses, and emergency managers | Task force-Delphi process (development of competencies for the course) + small group exercises | Task force-Delphi process (development of competencies for the course) + small group exercises |
| Markenson D et al. [48] | 2013 | USA | Survey | Undergraduate medical, dental, and nursing students | Web-administered survey questionnaire | Survey analysis/comparative study |
| Su T et al. [49] | 2013 | China | Survey | 547 health professionals, 456 medical students, 1526 local residents | Self-reporting questionnaire survey | Descriptive analysis, chi-square, linear regression analysis |
| Ragazzoni L et al. [50] | 2013 | Italy | Survey | Medical students registered as members of the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (undergraduate 1st to 6th year) and supplementary year (13) and post-graduate (4) | Web-based survey questionnaire (14 questions/4 groups) | Survey analysis |
| Jasper E et al. [51] | 2013 | USA | Survey | 130 new incoming interns at an academic teaching hospital | Questionnaires | Survey analysis |
| Grossi F et al. [52] | 2014 | Italy | Case-control study | Medical students = 125 (3rd to 6th year)/2 groups - 125 experimental group and 105 control (grade 44 students) | Case/control study (2 groups), pre and post-knowledge and attitude tests post a peer-reviewed course | Descriptive analysis, t-test, Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney, and Wilcoxon signed rank test |
| Ingrassia PL et al. [14] | 2014 | Italy | Pilot study | 524 - 4th, 5th, and 6th-year medical students (21 medical schools corresponding to 52.5% of all Italian med schools) | Development course (six-step approach) and satisfaction and knowledge questionnaires + pre-test + post-test after completing the course (25 MCQ) | Survey analysis |
| Afzali M et al. [53] | 2015 | Denmark | Descriptive analysis | 66 medical students (3 groups of 16 and 1 group of 18) | Post-course student evaluation of the course and self-assessment | Descriptive analysis |
| Harmer A et al. [54] | 2015 | UK | Descriptive, case study | All director’s global health programs directors, 15 universities, UK undergraduate (6 programs) and postgraduate global health students (25 programs, both medical and non-medical) | Survey questionnaire | Survey analysis |
| Pollard KA et al. [55] | 2015 | USA | Pilot study | 52 medical students + pre-medical students, resident doctors (total = 45) | Student performance evaluation, pre and post-test questionnaire | Paired t-test |
| Mortelmans LJ et al. [56] | 2015 | Netherlands | Survey | 4408 (university total) - 5th and 6th senior medical students (from 6 to 8 faculties) | Descriptive cross-sectional survey (10 theoretical and practical case questions (validated)) | Survey analysis |
| Bajow N et al. [57] | 2015 | Saudi Arabia | Pilot study | Health expert stakeholders and international expert communities on disaster medicine, medical undergraduates | Questionnaire and interviews | Survey analysis |
| Bajow N et al. [58] | 2015 | Saudi Arabia | Survey | 30 medical schools - academic medical affairs directors | Online survey questionnaire (25 items) | Descriptive analysis, t-test, chi-square |
| Mohamed-Ahmed R et al. [59] | 2015 | UK | Interventional study | 27 students | Pre and post-test sessions evaluation forms (self-rate confidence in 8 learning domains)/qualitative + quantitative | Descriptive quantitative analysis, Wilcoxon signed-rank test |
| Bajow N et al. [15] | 2016 | Saudi Arabia | Pilot study | 29 medical students (15 male; 14 female) of 4th, 5th, and 6th year at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia | Develop a 5-stage approach (video lecture, workshops, group discussion; role-playing, mock & experimental learning, computer games, training for community education). Pre and post-course questionnaire, self-assessment, 3rd level of Kirkpatrick's evaluation | Wilcoxon test for paired samples |
| Barrimah I et al. [60] | 2016 | Saudi Arabia | Survey | 250 medical students (clinical phase) and teachers of the college, emergency physicians, and health administrators (interviews) | Quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaire + interviews | Survey analysis and SPSS for qualitative analysis |
| Mortelmans LJ et al. [61] | 2016 | Belgium | Survey and comparative study | All military students in medical sciences (not only medicine/27% senior level) & 999 civilian medical students | 10 theoretical and practical questions + comparison with previous similar data from med students | Survey comparative analysis + statistical analysis |
| Cole LA et al. [62] | 2016 | USA | Survey | 14 medical students (4th year) | Post-course student evaluation of the course | Descriptive analysis |
| Wunderlich R et al. [13] | 2017 | Germany | Prospective, cross-sectional, observational survey | All medical students of 37 German medical schools | Web-based, purpose-designed questionnaire | Survey analysis statistical analysis (descriptive + quantitative) |
| Jasper EH et al. [63] | 2017 | USA | Survey | 503 medical students (1st year) | Questionnaire (23 questions) | Survey analysis |
| Prihatiningsih TS et al. [64] | 2017 | Indonesia | Randomized controlled trial | 72 (3rd year) students of medicine, nursing, and health and nutrition programs at 1 university in Indonesia, 36 randomized interventional studies, and 36 randomized for control group | Randomized controlled trial | Descriptive mixed-method analysis |
| Yasui K et al. [11] | 2017 | Japan | Review article | Undergraduate and postgraduate medical students | Narrative review of published articles in several databases and focus on 3 new representatives of the curriculum of Japanese medical education that started after the Great East Japan Earthquake | Author analysis |
| Kim TE et al. [65] | 2017 | USA | Interventional study | 402 undergraduate medical, nursing, and pharmacy students | Pre-course and post-course assessments online (performance, leadership, teamwork, course satisfaction) | Qualitative analysis |
| Patel R et al. [66] | 2017 | USA | Survey | 631 medical, nursing, and pharmacy students | Survey questionnaire | Two-way ANOVA, post hoc analysis |
| Verson J et al. [67] | 2018 | USA | Pilot study | 28 medical students (1st year) | Exercise via email city-wide drill simulating a large-scale aerosolized release of Bacillus anthracis/arriving ED hospital post-call | Author opinion, descriptive analysis of drill |
| Drees S et al. [68] | 2018 | Germany | Descriptive study | 89 Medical students | Author review of 7 workshops and the game "AFTERSHOCK" + survey "student self-evaluation" + written evaluation | Survey analysis |
| Wiesner L et al. [21] | 2018 | USA | Interventional study | 2 cohort of studies - 30 medical students, 1st cohort and 51 medical students, 2nd cohort (from all class years) (2nd-year medical students) | 10 questions of multiple-choice (prior to and after each training session) + statistical analysis | Paired t-test |
| Patel VM et al. [69] | 2018 | USA | Interventional study/survey | 55 medical students | Pre-elective, post-lesson, and post-elective questionnaire | Survey analysis |
| Scott LA et al. [70] | 2018 | USA | Interventional study/survey | 708 participants (31.9% medical students, 49.9% physicians, 7.2% nurses, and 11% allied health professionals) enrolled in a university between 2011 and 2014 | Facilitator observation, pre and post-testing, and a course evaluation | Descriptive analysis, unpaired t-tests |
| Kommor MB et al. [12] | 2019 | USA | Pilot study | 68 medical students (2nd year - 47; third year - 21) | Retrospective questionnaire (survey for evaluation of the program) | Survey analysis |
| Back DA et al. [71] | 2019 | German | Pilot study | 51 medical students (3rd year) | Pre and post-course multiple-choice tests and questionnaire | Survey analysis |
| Rezaee R et al. [72] | 2019 | Iran | Delphi survey | 15 medical and disaster experts | Delphi questionnaire (2 rounds) | Survey analysis |
| Gouda P et al. [73] | 2020 | Ireland | Survey | About 830 medical students of an Ireland university | Online survey questionnaire | Pearson’s chi-square correlation, independent t-tests, and multinomial regression |
| Ragazzoni L et al. [74] | 2020 | Italy | Interventional study | 2316 medical students from 2014 to 2018/41 medical students become trainers (2013-2018) and students’ teacher | Demographic questionnaires, pre-test and post-tests, and satisfaction questionnaires | Survey analysis |
| Tsai YD et al. [75] | 2020 | Taiwan | Pilot study | 230 medical students | Questionnaire (knowledge at the beginning and end of training) - 10 MCQs | Survey analysis |
| Gillani AH et al. [76] | 2020 | Pakistan | Survey | 310 students, medical and pharmacy undergraduate students | Pretested and validated self-administered questionnaire | Independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and regression analyses |
| Panda M et al. [77] | 2020 | India | Survey | Medical students | Predesigned semi-structured questionnaire | Survey analysis |
| Rajesh G et al. [78] | 2020 | India | Survey | 437 final-year students pursuing medicine (114), dentistry (86), nursing (42), physiotherapy (53), pharmacy (58), Ayurveda (23), and homeopathy (61) of 7 institutions in Mangalore and health professions | Questionnaire - 42 items (26 = knowledge; 8 = attitude; 8 = behavior) | Descriptive analysis, linear regression analysis |
| Ponampalam R et al. [79] | 2021 | Singapore | Survey | 250 medical students/10 in rotation every 3 months | MCQs, quizzes, and OSCE | Survey analysis |
| Ashcroft J et al. [80] | 2021 | UK | Systematic review | 23 studies met the inclusion criteria | Research studies critical review | Descriptive analysis |
| Al-Ziftawi NH et al. [81] | 2021 | Qatar | Survey | Medical, pharmacy, and health sciences students | Pretested and pre-validated survey questionnaire | Student's t-test, analysis of variance, correlation, and linear regression |
| Hermann S et al. [82] | 2021 | Germany | Prospective and cross-sectional survey | 102 medical students (5 courses from 2018-2020)/(3rd, 4th, and 5th year) | 3 survey tools | Paired sample t-test |
| Park H et al. [83] | 2021 | S. Korea | Scoping review | 57 papers met inclusion criteria | Arksey and O’Malley’s protocol methodology | Quantitative and thematic content analysis |
| Kasselmann N et al. [84] | 2021 | Germany | Survey | Deans of 36 German medical schools | Online questionnaire | Survey analysis, descriptive statistics |
| Saiboon IM et al. [85] | 2021 | Malaysia | Prospective cross-sectional survey | 168 pre-clinical year medical students | Validated online questionnaire | Survey analysis |
| Gable BD et al. [86] | 2021 | USA | Survey | Medical students | Pre and post-test questionnaire | Paired analysis, Wilcoxon signed-rank sum test |