Non-medical difficulties during emergency medical services delivery at the time of disasters.

Includes bibliographical references

Reprinted from BC medical journal; 1997; v. 39; p. 593-595

Planning for disasters at the community level is often uneven and problematic. There are a number of typical non-medical problems in the delivery of emergency medical services during a disaster. Search and rescue, the majority of which is undertaken informally by individuals at the site, may have problems of coordination, communication between search and rescue and hospitals, and unsystematic triage. Victims are likely to be transported by private vehicles to the most familiar hospital, regardless of disaster plans, resulting in an uneven distribution among hospitals. At hospitals, the less seriously injured usually arrive first and tend to be treated first. New groups providing emergency medical services often emerge during disasters, and established groups such as hospitals are often underutilized. Most integration and coordination of emergency medical services during a disaster is not planned, although links develop between responding groups. Research-based knowledge of what is likely to happen during a disaster can be helpful