title: Disaster and mass casualty events in the pediatric population.
abstract: Recent disasters involving pediatric victims have highlighted the need for pediatric hospital disaster preparedness. Although children represent 25% of the U.S. population, there are significant gaps in pediatric disaster preparedness across the country. Disaster planners and others tend to overlook pediatric needs, and therefore plans are often inadequate. To establish an effective hospital and community-based pediatric disaster management system, administrative and hospital leadership are key. Disaster planners and hospital leadership should establish and improve their management of pediatric victims in the event of a disaster through staff training, family reunification planning, and use of available pediatric disaster management tools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA.
authors.forename: Rita V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iverson
authors.forename: Catherine J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Goodhue
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neches
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Upperman
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004190:Disasters; D005190:Family; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D000078329:Workforce