title: Disaster triage after the Haitian earthquake.
abstract: In the aftermath of the devastating Haitian earthquake, we became the primary relief service for a large group of severely injured earthquake victims. Finding ourselves virtually isolated with extremely limited facilities and a group of critically injured patients whose needs vastly outstripped the available resources we employed a disaster triage system to organize their clinical care. This report describes the specific injury profile of this group of patients, their clinical course, and the management philosophy that we employed. It provides useful lessons for similar situations in the future.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States. rmsmith1@partners.org
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: G S M
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Dyer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Antonangeli
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arredondo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bedlion
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalal
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Deveny
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lauria
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lockhart
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lucien
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salzarulo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Toussaint
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wagoner
mesh_terms: D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D055866:Earthquakes; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006205:Haiti / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D018805:Sepsis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014218:Triage / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*