Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Millions of children were physically and psychosocially affected at different levels by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. This study aimed to investigate the medical issues frequently encountered by pediatricians among pediatric earthquake survivors from the earthquake-affected region and to determine the relationship between the earthquake-related courses they took in medical school and pediatrics specialty training and their self-evaluation in managing these issues.
METHODS: After the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, patients were transferred to different cities in Turkey by air as soon as the survivors were stabilized. A link to a structured questionnaire (Google® survey) was sent via e-mail to clinical administrative/educational managers who admitted earthquake survivors to their inpatient wards. These clinical administrative/educational officers were asked to share the survey link with the pediatricians and pediatric residents they worked with. Pediatricians working in the earthquake-affected region (11 provinces) and physicians who were not pediatricians were excluded from the study. The Pearson chi-square test was used to compare the categorical variables. A p-value <0.05 indicated a statistically significant difference.
RESULTS: The number of physicians who completed the questionnaire was 154. The most common situations encountered while managing earthquake victims in intensive care units or inpatient wards were monitoring amputees (23.4 percent), psychological problems (21.6 percent), and hemodialysis (14.4 percent). Among the physicians, almost 10.5 percent who graduated less than 6 years ago, 26.3 percent who graduated 6-14 years ago, and 22.9 percent who graduated ≥15 years ago considered themselves competent in giving bad news. The difference between these groups was statistically significant. A statistically significant difference was observed between physicians' perception of themselves as competent in managing patients with crush syndrome and having taken a course on "Approach to a Child Patient with Crush Syndrome" in medical faculty and specialty training programs.
CONCLUSION: Structuring and disseminating an earthquake-related curriculum, including psychological first aid, in Turkey's medical faculty and pediatrics specialty training programs is extremely important for caring for pediatric earthquake victims.