Critical care and disaster management.
BACKGROUND
In recent years, there has been a great deal of attention paid to preparing the healthcare system to handle disasters, in particular terrorist events. Most of the attention has focused on the first responders and the initial emergency management. Depending on the nature of the disaster, however, large numbers of patients may be critically ill.


CONCLUSIONS
In a contagious event, there may be a continuous stream of new patients requiring critical care support, overwhelming our current intensive care unit capacity. Planning needs to start now to develop processes that will enable us to expand our intensive care unit capacity, and likely adapt our standard of care, in the event that a natural or man-made disaster results in two, three, or more times the number of critically ill patients than our system can currently handle. Using the processes and resources we are currently using to improve patient safety can provide a framework for developing the necessary processes.


CONCLUSIONS
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) can provide valuable expertise and educational programs to facilitate the needed disaster management planning.
Department of Pediatrics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Margaret M
MM
Parker
D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004190:Disasters; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011634:Public Health; D023481:Terrorism; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare