When doctors are also survivors: Inside the minds of residents during the 2023 Türkiye earthquake
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Among those on the front lines were family medicine resident physicians, young doctors still in training who suddenly found themselves caring for the injured while simultaneously worrying about their own families, their own homes, and their own survival.
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Rather than measuring outcomes with surveys or checklists, the team conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty family medicine resident physicians at a university hospital in Adana, a city close enough to the epicenters to feel the full force of the disaster yet far enough to serve as a major receiving center for the wounded.
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The study’s conclusions translate directly into policy recommendations. The authors argue that disaster preparedness for resident physicians should combine practical training with psychological support and, crucially, with workforce policies that explicitly recognize clinicians may also be disaster survivors.
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What this research adds is a quieter, more personal layer to that story: the testimony of young physicians who stood at the intersection of catastrophe and care. Their experiences suggest that the next generation of disaster preparedness must be designed for whole human beings, professionals who grieve, fear, and doubt even as they work.
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