The threat of chemical, biological, radiologic, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNe) terrorist attacks has increased over time. The need for rapid and effective responses to such attacks is paramount. Effective medical counter-measures to CBRNe events are critical and training for such may effectively occur early in physician training. While some medical specialties are more involved than others, counter-terrorism medicine (CTM) spans all medical specialties.

All United States allopathic medical schools were examined via online curriculums and queries for academic content related to CBRNe and terrorist medical counter-measures.

Analysis of 153 United States allopathic medical schools demonstrated that 15 (9.8%) medical schools offered educational content related to CBRNe and terrorist counter-measures. This is in contrast to legislation following the September 11, 2001 attacks that called for high priority for such education.

Effective CBRNe medical counter-measures are currently in place; however, there is room for improvement in education that may begin during medical school. While certain medical specialties such as emergency medicine, primary care, and dermatology may have specific niches in such events, physicians of all medical specialties have something to offer, and even a basic education in medical school can help best prepare the nation for future attacks.

The development of medical school courses on medical responses for disaster victims has been deemed largely inadequate. To address this gap, a 2-week elective course on Terror Medicine (a field related to Disaster and Emergency Medicine) has been designed for fourth year students at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey (USA). This elective is part of an overall curricular plan to broaden exposure to topics related to Terror Medicine throughout the undergraduate medical education.

A course on Terror Medicine necessarily includes key aspects of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, though the converse is not the case. Courses on Disaster Medicine may not address features distinctively associated with a terror attack. Thus, a terror-related focus not only assures attention to this important subject but to accidental or naturally occurring incidents as well.

The course, implemented in 2014, uses a variety of teaching modalities including lectures, videos, and tabletop and hands-on simulation exercises. The subject matter includes biological and chemical terrorism, disaster management, mechanisms of injury, and psychiatry. This report outlines the elective’s goals and objectives, describes the course syllabus, and presents outcomes based on student evaluations of the initial iterations of the elective offering.

All students rated the course as “excellent” or “very good.” Evaluations included enthusiastic comments about the content, methods of instruction, and especially the value of the simulation exercises. Students also reported finding the course novel and engaging.

An elective course on Terror Medicine, as described, is shown to be feasible and successful. The student participants found the content relevant to their education and the manner of instruction effective. This course may serve as a model for other medical schools contemplating the expansion or inclusion of Terror Medicine-related topics in their curriculum.

ColeLA, NatalB, FoxA, CooperA, KennedyCA, ConnellND, SugalskiG, KulkarniM, FeravoloM, LambaS. A Course on Terror Medicine: Content and Evaluations. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(1):98–101.