Disaster 101: a novel approach to health care students' disaster medicine and emergency preparedness training.

To the Editor: Calls to develop skill-based competencies for emergency preparedness for health professionals—including physician trainees—predate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In June 2001, an American College of Emergency Physicians task force recommended that residents and medical students achieve proficiency in bioterrorism and weapons of mass destruction.1 Unfortunately, in the years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, emergency preparedness education assessment largely focused on practicing physicians and not trainees.2–5