title: The establishment of a standard operation procedure for psychiatric service after an earthquake.
abstract: This study presents information on the design and creation of a standard operation procedure (SOP) for psychiatric service after an earthquake. The strategies employed focused on the detection of survivors who developed persistent psychiatric illness, particularly post-traumatic stress and major depressive disorders. In addition, the study attempted to detect the risk factors for psychiatric illness. A Disaster-Related Psychological Screening Test (DRPST) was designed by five psychiatrists and two public health professionals for rapidly and simply interviewing 4,223 respondents within six months of the September 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. A SOP was established through a systemic literature review, action research, and two years of data collection. Despite the limited time and resources inherent to a disaster situation, it is necessary to develop an SOP for psychiatric service after an earthquake in order to assist the high number of survivors suffering from subsequent psychiatric impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, I-Shiou University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao-Yueh
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Frank Huang-Chih
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Kuan-Yi
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Wen-Kuo
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology