Designing Preparedness: Mapping Educational Strategies in Disaster Medicine Training - A Scoping Review Protocol

Introduction: Mass casualty incidents (MCIs), where casualty numbers exceed available emergency resources, are rising globally due to natural disasters, terrorism, and pandemics. Effective response requires well-trained healthcare professionals, yet training programs vary widely in structure and delivery. Previous reviews, such as Baetzner et al., focused on first responders and training effectiveness but offered limited insight into curriculum design across broader healthcare roles. Similarly, Bahattab et al. reviewed humanitarian health education in low- and middle-income countries but excluded high-income settings and did not examine the pedagogical design of MCI training for clinical professionals. This scoping review aims to map global evidence on how disaster and MCI training curricula are designed and implemented across diverse healthcare groups. Methods: This scoping review is conducted as part of the MCI-PHER project (Mass Casualty Incident – Prehospital Emergency Response), a collaborative initiative to advance disaster medicine education and prehospital preparedness. The review will follow the methodological framework by Arksey and O’Malley, with refinements from Levac et al., and will be reported according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A comprehensive search of seven databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov) will be conducted using a combination of MeSH terms and keywords. Studies published in English over the past ten years will be considered. Two independent reviewers will conduct study selection, data extraction, and quality checks, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Data will be charted using a customized extraction tool, refined through piloting five relevant studies. Inclusion criteria will cover all healthcare learners (e.g., paramedics, nurses, physicians, medical students) in prehospital or in-hospital disaster training contexts. Both qualitative and quantitative studies, including grey literature, will be included. Results and Analysis: The review will map and synthesize existing literature on disaster and mass casualty incident (MCI) training curricula across healthcare disciplines. Extracted data will be organized into tables and figures, presenting curriculum structures, learner groups, instructional methods, competency frameworks, assessment strategies, and reported outcomes. Both quantitative findings (e.g., frequencies of approaches and participant characteristics) and qualitative insights (e.g., implementation experiences and contextual factors) will be summarized. This integrated analysis will highlight current practices, innovations, and gaps in disaster training education to inform future curriculum development and policy. Ethics and Dissemination: No ethical approval is required as no human participants are involved. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, policy briefs, and stakeholder engagement.