Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:16:38.025Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Professionalization of Disaster Medicine—An Appraisal of Criterion-Referenced Qualifications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

David A. Bradt  and
Christina M Drummond
David A. Bradt*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia, and Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Christina M Drummond
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Epidemiology, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia and Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
*
David A. Bradt Department of Emergency Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Grattan St. and Royal Pde., PO Box 2009, Parkville 3050 Victoria, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The landmark Humanitarian Response Review, commissioned by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator in 2005, has catalyzed recent reforms in disaster response through the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. These reforms include a “cluster lead” approach to sectoral responsibilities and the strengthening of humanitarian coordination. Clinical medicine, public health, and disaster incident management are core disciplines underlying expertise in disaster medicine. Technical lead agencies increasingly provide pre-deployment training for selected health personnel. Moreover, technical innovations in disaster health sciences increasingly are disseminated to the disaster field through multi-agency initiatives, such as the Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) initiative.

The hallmark qualification of competency to render an informed opinion in the health specialties remains specialty board certification in North American healthcare traditions, or specialty society fellowship in British and Australasian healthcare traditions. However, disaster incident management training lacks international consensus on hallmark qualifications for competency. Disaster experience is best characterized in terms of months of fulltime, hands-on field service. Future practitioners in disaster medicine will see intensified efforts to define competency benchmarks across underlying core disciplines as well as key field performance indicators.Quantitative decisionsupport tools are emerging to assist disaster planners and medical coordinators in their personnel selection.

Keywords

criterion-referenced qualificationsdecision support toolsdisasterdisaster medicineepidemiology
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 5 , October 2007 , pp. 360 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Murray, V, Clifford, J, Seynaeve, G, Fisher, J: Disaster health education and training:A pilot questionnaire to understand current status. Prehospital Disast Med 2006;21(3):156–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Bradt, DA, Abraham, K, Franks, R: A strategic plan for disaster medicine in Australasia. Emerg Med 2003;15(3):271–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.United Nations General Assembly: Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance of the United Nations. General Assembly Resolution 46/182.A/RES/46/182.19 December 1992.Available at http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/about/resol/resol_e.html. Accessed January 2007.Google Scholar
4.Adinolfi, C, Bassiouni, D, Lauritzsen, HF, Williams, HR: Humanitarian Response Review. New York and Geneva:United Nations, 2005.Google Scholar
5. ReliefWeb:Humanitarian reform.Available at http://www.reliefweb.int/human-itarianreform.Accessed November 2006.Google Scholar
6.Inter-Agency Standing Committee: Guidance note on using the cluster approach to strengthen humanitarian response.24 November 2006.Available at http://www.reliefweb.int/humanitarianreform/IASC%20GUIDANCE%20N OTE%20ON%20CLUSTER%20APPROACH.pdf.Accessed January 2007.Google Scholar
7.World Health Assembly: Health action in relation to crises and disasters, with particular emphasis on the earthquakes and tsunamis of 26 December 2004. Resolution 58.1 Available at http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58-REC1/english/Resolutions.pdf.Accessed November 2006.Google Scholar
8.World Health Organization: Public health pre-deployment training. Available at http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/training/predeploy-ment/objectives/en/index.html. Accessed October 2006.Google Scholar
9.World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia: Health aspects of disaster preparedness and response—Report from a regional meeting of countries of South-East Asia. Prehospital Disast Med 2006;21(5):s62–s78.Google Scholar
10.Global Health Cluster: Mission statement and core commitments. November 2006. Available at http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/content/documents/default.asp?docID=1757&publish=0. Accessed December 2006.Google Scholar
11.International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. World Disasters Report 2001. Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2001.Google Scholar
12.US Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control: Famine-affected, refugee, and displaced populations: Recommendations for public health issues. MMWR 1992;41(RR-13):1–76.Google Scholar
13.Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. Oxford:Oxfam Publishing, 2004.Google Scholar
14.Connolly, MA, Gayer, M, Ryan, MJ, et al. :Communicable diseases in complex emergencies:Impact and challenges. Lancet 2004;364:1974–1983.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Burkle, FM:Lessons learnt and future expectations of complex emergencies. BMJ 1999;319:422–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Coupland, R: ICRC war surgery. General Surgical Grand Rounds, Alfred Hospital, Victori, Australia.2002.Google Scholar
17.Golden, M, Brennan, M, Kaiser, R, et al. :Measuring mortality, nutritional status and food security in crisis situations: SMART methodology version 1. June 2005. Available at http://www.smartindicators.org/.Accessed February 2007.Google Scholar
18.World Health Organization:Tracking health performance and humanitarian outcomes.Available at http://www.who.int/hac/events/Finalagenda2Dec.pdf. Accessed January 2006.Google Scholar
19.Office of UN Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator. Darfur Humanitarian Profile 2006.Available at http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/dar-fur/infocentre/HumanitarianProfile/index.asp.Accessed January 2007.Google Scholar
20.Burkle, FM:Complex humanitarian emergencies:III.Measures of effectiveness. Prehospital Disast Med 1995;10(1):48–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Burkle, FM: Measures of effectiveness in large-scale bioterrorism events. Prehospital Disast Med 2003;18(3):258–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Scientific Committee for the International Society for Disaster Medicine: Curriculum: Education and Training in Disaster Medicine. Undated. Available from the Secretariat of the International Society for Disaster Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
23.Seynaeve, G, Archer, F, Fisher, J, et al. : International standards and guidelines on education and training for the multi-disciplinary health response to major events which threaten the health status of a community. Prehospital Disast Med 2004;19(2,s2):s17–s30.Google ScholarPubMed
24.Waeckerle, JF, Seamans, S, Whiteside, M, et al. , on behalf of the Task Force of Health Care and Emergency Services Professionals on Preparedness for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Incidents: Executive summary: Developing objectives, content, and competencies for the training of emergency medical technicians, emergency physicians, and emergency nurses to care for casualties resulting from nuclear, biological, or chemical incidents. Ann Emerg Med 2001;37:587–601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Landesman, L (ed): Guidelines for Developing Curricula for Emergency Public Health in Schools of Public Health. Undated. Available from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Association of Schools of Public Health.Google Scholar
26.Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine: Disaster Medical Assistance Teams: A Literature Review. Perth: Health Protection Group of the Department of Health, 2006.Google Scholar
27.American College of Emergency Medicine Section of Disaster Medicine. Disaster Fellowship. In: Newsletter from the American College of Emergency Physicians 2005;14(4):6.Google Scholar
28.American Board of Physician Specialties.Disaster preparedness and response. Available at http://www.abpsga.org/certification/abodm_announcement.html. Accessed January 2007.Google Scholar
29.Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-5. Management of domestic incidents. Available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030228-9.html.Accessed January 2007.Google Scholar
30.US Department of Homeland Security, National Incident Management System Integration Center.National standard curriculum training development guidance. October 2005. Available at http://www.security.state.ny.us/training/nims-standard-curriculum-trng.pdf.Accessed January 2007.Google Scholar
31.National Virtual Translation Center. Language learning difficulty for English speakers. Available at http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectations.html.Accessed February 2007.Google Scholar
32.World Health Organization: WHO-PAHO Guidelines for the Use of Foreign Field Hospitals in the Aftermath of Sudden-Impact Disaster. PAHO:Washington, DC, 2003.Google Scholar
33.Schnitzer, JJ, Briggs, SM: The US medical response in Bam, Iran. N Engl J Med 2004;350(12):1174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34.Abolghasemi, H, Radfar, MH, Khatami, M, et al. : International medical response to a natural disaster: Lessons learned from the Ban earthquake experience. Prehospital Disast Med 2006;21(3):141–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35.Birnbaum, ML:Professionalization and credentialing. Prehospital Disast Med 2005;20(4):210–211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed