Disaster Preparedness

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. 118-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Quarantelli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Emergency Medical Service ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mass Casualties ◽  
Disaster Plan ◽  
Emergency Medical

The 1973 Emergency Medical Services System Act in the United States mandates that one of the 15 functions to be performed by every EMS system is coordinated disaster planning. Implicit in the legislation is the assumption that everyday emergency medical service (EMS) systems will be the basis for the provisions of EMS in extraordinary mass emergencies, or in the language of the act, during “mass casualties, natural disasters or national emergencies.” Policy interpretations of the Act specified that the EMS system must have links to local, regional and state disaster plans and must participate in biannual disaster plan exercises. Thus, the newly established EMS systems have been faced with both planning for, as well as providing services in large-scale disasters.

The State of Innovative Emergency Medical Service Programs in the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy Gonzalez Morganti ◽  
Abby Alpert ◽  
Gregg Margolis ◽  
Jeffrey Wasserman ◽  
Arthur L. Kellermann
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emergency Medical Service ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Service Programs ◽  
Emergency Medical

scholarly journals Association Between Emergency Medical Service Response Time and Motor Vehicle Crash Mortality in the United States

JAMA Surgery ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 154 (4) ◽  
pp. 286 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Byrne ◽  
N. Clay Mann ◽  
Mengtao Dai ◽  
Stephanie A. Mason ◽  
Paul Karanicolas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Emergency Medical Service ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Motor Vehicle Crash ◽  
Vehicle Crash ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Service Response Time

scholarly journals Increases in Naloxone Administrations by Emergency Medical Services Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia Khoury ◽  
Alexander Preiss ◽  
Paul Geiger ◽  
Mohd Anwar ◽  
Kevin Paul Conway
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Emergency Medical Service ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Opioid Overdose ◽  
Opioid Crisis ◽  
Control Distribution ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Past Data

BACKGROUND The opioid crisis in the United States may be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE The current study examines changes in naloxone administrations during Emergency Medical Service (EMS) runs for opioid-related overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Guilford County, North Carolina. METHODS A period-over-period approach was used to explore EMS data from Guilford County, North Carolina on opioid overdose-related runs. We compared trends in the frequency of opioid-related EMS runs, naloxone administrations (NAs), and multiple naloxone administrations (MNAs) 29 weeks before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, past data were used to generate a quasi-control distribution of period-over-period changes to compare the change observed during the COVID-19 period to each 29-week period back to January 1, 2014. RESULTS All outcomes increased during the COVID-19 period. Compared to the previous 29 weeks, we observed significant proportional increases in mean number of opioid-related EMS runs (37.4%), NAs (57.8%), and MNAs (84.8%). Compared to each previous 29-week period, the COVID-19 period saw increases across all outcomes that were greater than 91% of all past period-over-period changes. CONCLUSIONS The current study is the first to report increases in both incidence (NAs) and severity (MNAs) of opioid overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. For a host of reasons that need to be explored, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to markedly increase the occurrence and lethality of the opioid crisis in Guilford County, NC.

Diabetes-Related Emergency Medical Service Activations in 23 States, United States 2015

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 705-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Benoit ◽  
Henry S. Kahn ◽  
Andrew I. Geller ◽  
Daniel S. Budnitz ◽  
N. Clay Mann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emergency Medical Service ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
Emergency Medical

Challenge of Hospital Emergency Preparedness: Analysis and Recommendations

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (S1) ◽  
pp. S74-S82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Barbera ◽  
Dale J. Yeatts ◽  
Anthony G. Macintyre
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Medical Emergency

ABSTRACTIn the United States, recent large-scale emergencies and disasters display some element of organized medical emergency response, and hospitals have played prominent roles in many of these incidents. These and other well-publicized incidents have captured the attention of government authorities, regulators, and the public. Health care has assumed a more prominent role as an integral component of any community emergency response. This has resulted in increased funding for hospital preparedness, along with a plethora of new preparedness guidance.Methods to objectively measure the results of these initiatives are only now being developed. It is clear that hospital readiness remains uneven across the United States. Without significant disaster experience, many hospitals remain unprepared for natural disasters. They may be even less ready to accept and care for patient surge from chemical or biological attacks, conventional or nuclear explosive detonations, unusual natural disasters, or novel infectious disease outbreaks.This article explores potential reasons for inconsistent emergency preparedness across the hospital industry. It identifies and discusses potential motivational factors that encourage effective emergency management and the obstacles that may impede it. Strategies are proposed to promote consistent, reproducible, and objectively measured preparedness across the US health care industry. The article also identifies issues requiring research. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 1):S74–S82)

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document