[Enhancing Epidemiological Investigation Capacity through Tabletop Simulation Exercises: A Case on Training for Mongolian Epidemiological Investigation and Response Officials].

Objectives: This study presents the results of tabletop simulation exercises conducted as part of the Mongolian Official Development Assistance Project. Methods: The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency provided training to 16 Mongolian public officicers on epidemiological investigations and response processes relating to measles and tuberculosis outbreaks. The training scenarios were structured to guide participants through stepwise discussions, including outbreak recognition, contact tracing and management, and the development of response strategies to mitigate disease transmission. To assess the impact of the training, the participants' competency improvement and satisfaction were evaluated using a self-evaluation survey. The survey was conducted on-site immediately after the completion of the entire training program. Results: During training, the trainees actively presented their opinions and discussed solutions to proposed problems. Among the 16 trainees, 11 completed the self-evaluation evaluation survey, with a mean satisfaction score of 6.6 out of 7. The mean understanding score for infectious disease responses improved from 4.9 points pre-training to 6.3 points post-training. Conclusions: These results suggest that training can improve competencies in infectious disease responses. However, this study focused on immediate post-training evaluations, and the long-term impact of training was not assessed. To strengthen infectious disease response capacities, periodic scenario-based simulation training is necessary.