Disaster preparedness in Scandinavia.
Disaster preparedness in Scandinavia is being improved on the national level, with increased cooperation between the different countries following 9/11. However, focus so far has been largely directed against CBRN threats. The reduction of hospital beds along with centralisation of advanced care as well as financial strains will enforce a closer cooperation between the health boards. The federal health care authorities must have a clear-cut responsibility and mandate to coordinate the nations health care systems in peacetime disasters, and not only during war. This reorganisation has just merely begun.
Ortenwall
P
P
Centre for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine and Gothenburg Ambulance Service, Sweden. per.ortenwall@vgregion.se
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D011057:Politics; D018635:Rescue Work / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries