The hallmark of a successful response to a nuclear detonation will be the resilience of the community, region, and nation. An incident of this magnitude will rapidly become a national incident; however, the initial critical steps to reduce lives lost, save the lives that can be saved with the resources available, and understand and apply resources available to a complex and dynamic situation will be the responsibility of the local and regional responders and planners. Expectations of the public health and health care systems will be met to the extent possible by coordination, cooperation, and an effort to produce as consistent a response as possible for the victims. Responders will face extraordinarily stressful situations, and their own physical and psychological health is of great importance to optimizing the response. This article illustrates through vignettes and supporting text how the incident may unfold for the various components of the health and medical systems and provides additional context for the discipline-related actions outlined in the state and local planners’ playbook.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:S73-S88)

Objective: To examine how the demographic and other population changes affected birth and obstetric outcomes in Louisiana, and the effect of the hurricane on racial disparities in these outcomes.

Methods: Vital statistics data were used to compare the incidence of low birth weight (LBW) (<2500 g), preterm birth (PTB) (37 weeks' gestation), cesarean section, and inadequate prenatal care (as measured by the Kotelchuck index), in the 2 years after Katrina compared to the 2 years before, for the state as a whole, region 1 (the area around New Orleans), and Orleans Parish (New Orleans). Logistic models were used to adjust for covariates.

Results: After adjustment, rates of LBW rose for the state, but preterm birth did not. In region 1 and Orleans Parish, rates of LBW and PTB remained constant or fell. These patterns were all strongest in African American women. Rates of cesarean section and inadequate prenatal care rose. Racial disparities in birth outcomes remained constant or were reduced.

Conclusions: Although risk of LBW/PTB remained higher in African Americans, the storm does not appear to have exacerbated health disparities, nor did population shifts explain the changes in birth and obstetric outcomes.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:S39-S45)

Ongoing provision of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies is of key importance during and following a disaster or other emergency event. An effectively coordinated response involving locally available pharmacy personnel—drawing upon the efforts of licensed pharmacists and unlicensed support staff—can help to mitigate harms and alleviate hardship in a community after emergency events. However, pharmacists and their counterparts generally receive limited training in disaster medicine and emergency preparedness as part of their initial qualifications, even in countries with well-developed professional education programs. Pharmacy efforts have also traditionally focused on medical supply activities, more so than on general emergency preparedness. To facilitate future work between pharmacy personnel on an international level, our team undertook an extensive review of the published literature describing pharmacists’ experiences in responding to or preparing for both natural and manmade disasters. In addition to identifying key activities that must be performed, we have developed a classification scheme for pharmacy personnel. We believe that this framework will enable pharmacy personnel working in diverse practice settings to identify and undertake essential actions that are necessary to ensure an effective emergency response and will promote better collaboration between pharmacy team members during actual disaster situations. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:496–504)

Objectives: The November 26-29, 2008, terrorist attacks on Mumbai were unique in its international media attention, multiple strategies of attack, and the disproportionate national fear they triggered. Everyone was a target: random members of the general population, iconic targets, and foreigners alike were under attack by the terrorists.

Methods: A retrospective, descriptive study of the distribution of terror victims to various city hospitals, critical radius, surge capacity, and the nature of specialized medical interventions was gathered through police, legal reports, and interviews with key informants.

Results: Among the 172 killed and 304 injured people, about four-fifths were men (average age, 33 years) and 12% were foreign nationals. The case-fatality ratio for this event was 2.75:1, and the mortality rate among those who were critically injured was 12%. A total of 38.5% of patients arriving at the hospitals required major surgical intervention. Emergency surgical operations were mainly orthopedic (external fixation for compound fractures) and general surgical interventions (abdominal explorations for penetrating bullet/shrapnel injuries).

Conclusions: The use of heavy-duty automatic weapons, explosives, hostages, and arson in these terrorist attacks alerts us to new challenges to medical counterterrorism response. The need for building central medical control for a coordinated response and for strengthening public hospital capacity are lessons learned for future attacks. These particular terrorist attacks had global consequences, in terms of increased security checks and alerts for and fears of further similar “Mumbai-style” attacks. The resilience of the citizens of Mumbai is a critical measure of the long-term effects of terror attacks.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:273–279)

For efficient and effective medical responses to mass casualty events, detailed advanced planning is required. For federal responders, this is an ongoing responsibility. The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) prepares playbooks with formal, written plans that are reviewed, updated, and exercised regularly. Recognizing that state and local responders with fewer resources may be helped in creating their own event-specific response plans, subject matter experts from the range of sectors comprising the Scarce Resources for a Nuclear Detonation Project, provided for this first time a state and local planner's playbook template for responding to a nuclear detonation. The playbook elements are adapted from DHHS playbooks with appropriate modification for state and local planners. Individualization by venue is expected, reflecting specific assets, populations, geography, preferences, and expertise. This playbook template is designed to be a practical tool with sufficient background information and options for step-by-step individualized planning and response.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:S89-S97)

Time is of the essence to continue the pandemic disaster cycle with a comprehensive post-COVID-19 health care delivery system RECOVERY analysis, plan and operation at the local, regional and state level.The second wave of COVID-19 pandemic response are not the ripples of acute COVID-19 patient clusters that will persist until a vaccine strategy is designed and implemented to effect herd immunity. The COVID-19 second wave are the patients that have had their primary and specialty care delayed. This exponential wave of patients requires prompt health care delivery system planning and response.

Mass casualty incidents are a concern in many urban areas. A community’s ability to cope with such events depends on the capacities and capabilities of its hospitals for handling a sudden surge in demand of patients with resource-intensive and specialized medical needs. This paper uses a whole-hospital simulation model to replicate medical staff, resources, and space for the purpose of investigating hospital responsiveness to mass casualty incidents. It provides details of probable demand patterns of different mass casualty incident types in terms of patient categories and arrival patterns, and accounts for related transient system behavior over the response period. Using the layout of a typical urban hospital, it investigates a hospital’s capacity and capability to handle mass casualty incidents of various sizes with various characteristics, and assesses the effectiveness of designed demand management and capacity-expansion strategies. Average performance improvements gained through capacity-expansion strategies are quantified and best response actions are identified. Capacity-expansion strategies were found to have superadditive benefits when combined. In fact, an acceptable service level could be achieved by implementing only 2 to 3 of the 9 studied enhancement strategies. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:778-790)

Background: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to parts of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, causing many people, including vulnerable older adults, to evacuate to safe surroundings. Approximately 23,000 evacuees—many of them 65 years old or older, frail, and lacking family to advocate for their care—arrived at the Reliant Astrodome Complex in Houston, Texas. There was no method for assessing the immediate and long-term needs of this vulnerable population.

Methods: A 13-item rapid needs assessment tool was piloted on 228 evacuees 65 years old and older by the Seniors Without Families Team (SWiFT), to test the feasibility of triaging vulnerable older adults with medical and mental health needs, financial needs, and/or social needs.

Results: The average age of the individuals triaged was 66.1 ± 12.72 (mean ± standard deviation [SD]) years. Of these, 68% were triaged for medical and or mental health needs, 18% were triaged for financial assistance, and 4% were triaged for social assistance. More than half of the SWiFT-triaged older adults reported having hypertension.

Conclusions: The SWiFT tool is a feasible approach for triaging vulnerable older adults and provides a rapid determination of the level of need or assistance necessary for vulnerable older people during disasters. The tool was only piloted, thus further testing to determine reliability and validity is necessary. Potentially important implications for using such a tool and suggestions for preparing for and responding to disaster situations in which vulnerable older adults are involved are provided. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2008;2(Suppl 1):S45–S50)

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented demands on health systems, where hospitals have become overwhelmed with patients amidst limited resources. Disaster response and resource allocation during such crises present multiple challenges. A breakdown in communication and organization can lead to unnecessary disruptions and adverse events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) promotes the use of an incident command system (ICS) model during large-scale disasters, and we hope that an institutional disaster plan and ICS will help to mitigate these lapses. In this article, we describe the alignment of an emergency department (ED) specific Forward Command structure with the hospital ICS and address the challenges specific to the ED. Key components of this ICS include a hospital-wide incident command or Joint Operations Center (JOC) and an ED Forward Command. This type of structure leads to a shared mental model with division of responsibilities that allows institutional adaptations to changing environments and maintenance of specific roles for optimal coordination and communication. We present this as a model that can be applied to other hospital EDs around the country to help structure the response to the COVID-19 pandemic while remaining generalizable to other disaster situations.

With the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), strict isolation strategies to limit virus transmission have been applied worldwide. The lockdown has affected and challenged different medical areas. Doctors, nurses, dentists, and other health care workers are concerned about contagion, not only for themselves, but also for their families and colleagues. Furthermore, the oral mucosa has been accepted as a high-risk route of transmission for COVID-19. In many countries, dentists have been forced to stop working during quarantine until further notification. Isolation and its financial impact have produced physical and psychological pressure, depression, social anxiety, and other mental health concerns. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the consequences of past epidemics on mental health and to assess possible aspects that might be associated with mental implications in dentists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, some concrete actions to avoid subsequent potential consequences are recommended.

The prospect of a severe influenza pandemic poses a daunting public health threat to hospitals and the public they serve. The event of a severe influenza pandemic will put hospitals under extreme stress; only so many beds, ventilators, nurses, and physicians will be available, and it is likely that more patients will require medical attention than can be completely treated. Triage is the process of sorting patients in a time of crisis to determine who receives what level of medical attention. How will hospitals sort patients to determine priority for treatment? What criteria will be used? Who will develop these criteria? This article formulates an answer to these questions by constructing a conceptual framework for anticipating and responding to the ethical issues raised by triage in the event of a severe influenza pandemic. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2008;2:114–118)