Pediatric Emergency Care in Disaster-Affected Areas: A Firsthand Perspective after Typhoons Bopha and Haiyan in the Philippines

Abstract

Disasters are defined as man-made or natural causes that disrupt a population and cause widespread human, material, economic, or environmental losses, exceeding that population's capacity to cope using its own resources. This review highlights the epidemiology and disease patterns in disasters, with specific application to the care of children in the austere environments created in the aftermath of disasters. The review also attempts to describe the experience from a firsthand field hospital perspective of a multinational team in caring for patients in the aftermath of two natural disasters in the Philippines, during both Typhoon Bopha and Typhoon Haiyan. In doing so, we will place these experiences in the context of the current literature on the subject of pediatric management during disaster emergencies and describe lessons learned to refine team approaches and patient care methodologies. The review also discusses methods for improvement in emergency preparedness for disasters, with specific mention of the roles of telemedicine and just-in-time simulation training, when feasible. Lastly, it will review the importance of community and military collaboration and planning for aftercare post-departure of foreign medical teams.

Keywords: Philippines; Typhoon Bopha; Typhoon Haiyan; austere environment; disaster management team; just-in-time training; pediatric disaster management; pediatric triage tools; typhoon.

Fig. 1

The JumpSTART triage algorithm for use in pediatric patients during mass casualty incident (MCI) disaster management (Reprinted with permission of Dr. Lou Romig.)