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Erik Auf der Heide

Publications and source records attributed to Erik Auf der Heide.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

The importance of evidence-based disaster planning.

Disaster planning is only as good as the assumptions on which it is based. However, some of these assumptions are derived from a conventional wisdom that is at variance with empirical field disaster research studies. Knowledge of disaster research findings might help planners avoid common disaster management pitfalls, thereby improving disaster response planning. To illustrate the point, this article examines several common assumptions about disasters, compares them with research findings, and discusses the implications for planning. These assumptions are that: 1. Dispatchers will hear of the disaster and send emergency response units to the scene. 2. Trained emergency personnel will carry out field search and rescue. 3. Trained emergency medical services personnel will carry out triage, provide first aid or stabilizing medical care, and--if necessary--decontaminate casualties before patient transport. 4. Casualties will be transported to hospitals by ambulance. 5. Casualties will be transported to hospitals appropriate for their needs and in such a manner that no hospitals receive a disproportionate number. 6. Authorities at the scene will ensure that area hospitals are promptly notified of the disaster and the numbers, types, and severities of casualties to be transported to them. 7. The most serious casualties will be the first to be transported to hospitals. The current status and limitations of disaster research are discussed, and potential interventions to response problems are offered that may be of help to planners and practitioners and that may serve as hypotheses for future research.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Benchmarking for hospital evacuation: a critical data collection tool.

In events such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks, hospitals may be victims of disasters. They may need to transfer patients to outside facilities rather than continue to provide on-site care. Following the Northridge earthquake, eight hospitals in the damaged area were the foci of a United States National Science Foundation study that examined the status of the hospitals' pre-event planning, post-event evacuation decision-making, and internal and external evacuation processes. Building on this experience, this paper offers a standardized data collection tool, which will enable researchers to record hospital evacuation information in a systematic manner so that comparable data can be accumulated, evacuation research methods can be improved, and consensus on methods can be reached. The study's principal subjects include: (1) hospital demographics; (2) description of existing disaster response plans; (3) an event's impacts on hospital operations; (4) decision-making and incident command; (5) movement of patients within the facility; (6) movement of patients to off-site institutions; and (7) hospital recovery.

Benchmarking↗