American journal of disaster medicine
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Recent incidents have demonstrated that the US health system is unprepared for infectious pandemics resulting in a pediatric surge. Development of efficient plans and a structured and coordinated regional response to pediatric pandemic surge remains an opportunity. To address this gap, we conducted a literature review to assess current efforts, propose a response plan structure, and recommend policy actions. ⋯ The review has supported the concern that the US health system is unprepared for a pediatric surge induced by infectious disease pandemics. Common themes suggest that response plans should reflect the 4Ss and national guidelines must be translated into regional response systems that account for local nuances.
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Telemedicine and advanced technologies that ensure telepresence have become common practice and are an effective way of providing healthcare services. ⋯ Telemedicine has not been used thus in the management of disasters, despite its great potential. There is an acute need for establishing telemedicine programs in high risk areas for disasters, so that when these disasters strike, existing telemedicine networks can be used, rather than attempting to bring solutions into a chaotic situation postevent.
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Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) include natural (eg, earthquake) or human (eg, terrorism or technical) events. They produce an imbalance between medical needs and resources necessitating the use of triage strategies. Triage of casualties must be performed accurately and efficiently if providers are to do the greatest good for the greatest number. There is limited research on the validation of triage system efficacy in determining the priority of care for victims of MCI, particularly those involving chemicals. ⋯ Current literature does not provide needed evidence on the validity of triage systems for MCI in particular those involving chemicals. Well designed studies are needed to validate the reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of triage systems used for MCI including those involving chemicals.
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Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) include natural (eg, earthquake) or human (eg, terrorism or technical) events. They produce an imbalance between medical needs and resources necessitating the use of triage strategies. Triage of casualties must be performed accurately and efficiently if providers are to do the greatest good for the greatest number. There is limited research on the validation of triage system efficacy in determining the priority of care for victims of MCI, particularly those involving chemicals. ⋯ Current literature does not provide needed evidence on the validity of triage systems for MCI in particular those involving chemicals. Well designed studies are needed to validate the reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of triage systems used for MCI including those involving chemicals.
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Research and field experience have identified a global gap in postdisaster rebuilding of healthcare systems due to the current primary focus on returning devastated community infrastructures to predisaster conditions. Disasters, natural or man-made, present an opportunity for communities to rebuild, restructure, and redefine their predisaster states, creating more resilient and sustainable healthcare systems. ⋯ The Sustainable Healthcare Redevelopment Model can serve as a guideline for delivery of healthcare services following disaster or conflict and use of crisis as a window of opportunity to improve the healthcare delivery system and incorporate resilience into the healthcare infrastructure.