Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-nr592 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-10T13:20:12.215Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Addressing the Health Care Needs of Displaced Populations Following a Disaster: Development of Clinical Tools and Tracking Methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2025

Steven Hirschfeld Open the ORCID record for Steven Hirschfeld [Opens in a new window] ,
Dean Coppola  and
Jeffrey Kopp
Steven Hirschfeld*
Affiliation:
Pediatrics, https://ror.org/04r3kq386 Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences , Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Dean Coppola
Affiliation:
Independent Consultant
Jeffrey Kopp
Affiliation:
https://ror.org/00adh9b73 NIDDK , Bethesda, Maryland, USA
*
Corresponding author: Steven Hirschfeld; Email: steven.hirschfeld@usuhs.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Triage approaches for treating individuals in disaster settings historically have been focused on identifying acute decompensation, injuries, and death. For displaced populations that had limited function prior to ta disaster event, the emphasis during and after a disaster becomes identification of the proper level of support needed to survive in a shelter and selection of an appropriate post-shelter destination. The US Public Health Service Rapid Deployment Force team PHS-1 developed tools to address the needs of such displaced populations. The tools, described in detail in this report, address assessment, tracking, planning, resource utilization, and decision making and were field tested over the course of multiple deployments to refine them and validate their utility.

Keywords

decision makingorganizationaldelivery of health caredisastersnatural disasters

Information

Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 19 , 2025 , e248
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Sztajnkrycer, MD, Madsen, BE, Alejandro Baez, A. Unstable ethical plateaus and disaster triage. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2006;24(3):749–68. doi:10.1016/j.emc.2006.05.016CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benson, M, Koenig, KL, Schultz, CH. Disaster triage: START, then SAVE--a new method of dynamic triage for victims of a catastrophic earthquake. Prehosp Disaster Med. 1996;11(2):117–24. doi:10.1017/s1049023x0004276xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Franc, JM, Kirkland, SW, Wisnesky, UD, et al. METASTART: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of the Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) Algorithm for Disaster Triage. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2022;37(1):106–116. doi:10.1017/s1049023x2100131xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcussen, CE, Bräuner, KB, Alstrøm, H, et al. Accuracy of prehospital triage systems for mass casualty incidents in trauma register studies - a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies. Injury. 2022;53(8):2725–2733. doi:10.1016/j.injury.2022.05.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wisnesky, UD, Kirkland, SW, Rowe, BH, et al. A aualitative assessment of studies evaluating the classification accuracy of personnel using START in disaster triage: a scoping review. Front Public Health. 2022 2022;10:676704.10.3389/fpubh.2022.676704CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, CH, Heffernan, RW, Willenbring, BD, et al. Comparing the accuracy of mass casualty triage systems when used in an adult population. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2020;24(4):515–524. doi:10.1080/10903127.2019.1641579CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhalla, MC, Frey, J, Rider, C, et al. Simple Triage Algorithm and Rapid Treatment and Sort, Assess, Lifesaving, Interventions, Treatment, and Transportation mass casualty triage methods for sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values. Am J Emerg Med. 2015;33(11):1687–1691. doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2015.08.021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arshad, FH, Williams, A, Asaeda, G, et al. A modified simple triage and rapid treatment algorithm from the New York City (USA) Fire Department. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):199–204. doi:10.1017/S1049023X14001447CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Commission MMaCPaA. June- 2016 -Report-to-Congress-on-Medicaid-and-CHIP. 2016:69.Google Scholar
Lempert, KD, Kopp, JB. Renal failure patients in disasters. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2019;13(4):782–790. doi:10.1017/dmp.2018.142CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trotter, G. Sufficiency of care in disasters: ventilation, ventilator triage, and the misconception of guideline-driven treatment. J Clin Ethics. 2010;21(4):294–307.10.1086/JCE201021404CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farmer, JC, Carlton, PK Jr. Hospital disaster medical response: aligning everyday requirements with emergency casualty care. World Hosp Health Serv. 2005;41(2):21–24, 41, 43.Google ScholarPubMed
Boersma, P, Black, LI, Ward, BW. Prevalence of multiple chronic conditions among US adults, 2018. Prev Chronic Dis. 2020;17:E106. doi:10.5888/pcd17.200130CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed