Engendering enthusiasm for sustainable disaster critical care response: why this is of consequence to critical care professionals?
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* Corresponding author: J Christopher Farmer farmer.j@mayo.edu
1 Critical Care Medicine fellow, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
2 Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellow, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
3 Consultant in Critical Care Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and the Program in Translational Immunovirology and Biodefense, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Critical Care 2005, 9:125-127 doi:10.1186/cc3048
Published: 27 January 2005Abstract
Disaster medical response has historically focused on the pre-hospital and initial treatment needs of casualties. In particular, the critical care component of many disaster response plans is incomplete. Equally important, routinely available critical care resources are almost always insufficient to respond to disasters that generate anything beyond a 'modest' casualty stream. Large-scale monetary funding to effectively remedy these shortfalls is unavailable. Education, training, and improved planning are our most effective initial steps. We suggest several areas for further development, including dual usage of resources that may specifically augment critical care disaster medical capabilities over time.