Treatment Guidelines for Children in the Event of a Terrorist Attack or Disaster Released to State PlannersChildren's Health Fund Consensus Guidelines Compiled by Nation's Top Pediatric Experts -- Citing Absence of Pediatric Guidelines and Lack of Federal Support, Nation's Children's Hospitals Concerned With Level of Readiness The first nationally sanctioned treatment guidelines for children in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster were published and made available to local and state government agencies, hospitals and health professionals, authors of the report announced today. The executive summary, derived from a national consensus conference on pediatric preparedness for disasters and terrorism held in February, was organized by The Program for Pediatric Preparedness of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, The Children's Health Fund and The Children's Hospital at Montefiore.  The report provides uniform guidelines on treating children in the event of a disaster and focuses on eight major areas: emergency and pre-hospital care; hospital care; emergency preparedness; terrorism preparedness and response; mental health needs; school preparedness and response; training and drills; and future research and funding. Some of the priority recommendations include:
"It is critical that we now have a single and universal set of guidelines to determine how we care for children in every way possible from treatment for exposure to hazardous agents to assessing mental health care needs to evacuation procedures in the event of a disaster," said David Markenson, M.D., director of the Program for Pediatric Preparedness of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. "Highly organized and significant episodes of lethal terrorism around the world suggest that we remain highly vulnerable to these threats, even here in the United States, and improving our capacity to respond to attacks continues to be a high national priority," said Irwin Redlener, M.D., director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and president of The Children's Health Fund. "This new report helps ensure that we can effectively manage children who might be affected by weapons of mass destruction," Dr. Redlener added. Nation's Children's Hospitals Level of Preparedness An assessment of the emergency preparedness planning and practices of 20 of the nation's children's hospitals conducted by The Children's Health Fund in May 2003, found that while hospitals are for the most part gearing up with regular emergency drills, including biochemical or radiological exposures, and coordination with local governments, those children's hospitals that are not contained within a larger medical center, hospital system or corporation are further along with pediatric specific protocols. And the hospitals are picking up the costs of the preparedness efforts with minimal if any financial assistance from the government. While hospitals that are located in areas that are prone to natural disasters have had disaster preparedness plans in place and were able to build on existing infrastructures post September 11, there is still a widespread need among all children's hospitals for specific information on medication dosage requirements for children. "When we surveyed a representative sample of children's hospitals around the country, we were not surprised to find that most had begun the planning process for coping with large-scale disasters affecting children," Dr. Redlener said. "What was of great concern, however, was that almost all of the children's hospitals we spoke with were not prepared with standard protocols and treatment plans for managing children affected by weapons of mass destruction," he added. In February 2003, a coalition of experts from government agencies, professional organizations, emergency medicine and response, pediatrics, mental health and disaster preparedness gathered in Washington for a three-day meeting to coordinate personnel and resources from multiple agencies, analyze the existing data on the needs of children in disasters including planning, preparation, and response at the federal, state and local levels, develop consensus recommendations on the needs of children, and create a research agenda to address knowledge gaps and future direction. The new National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides a multifaceted large-scale approach to disaster planning. NCDP focuses on the concerns of potential terrorism, emerging infections, and response to disasters in general, and is organized around four highly-collaborative areas: public health readiness; community-based response and preparedness; pediatric preparedness; and preparedness policy, public opinion, and advocacy. ABOUT THE MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH The only accredited school of public health in New York City, and among the first in the nation,Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides instruction and research opportunities to more than 800 graduate students in pursuit of masters and doctoral degrees. Its students and over 200 multi-disciplinary faculty engage in research and service in the city, nation, and around the world, concentrating on biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health policy and management, population and family health, and sociomedical sciences.
For more information, or to contact Children's Health Fund, see their website at: www.childrenshealthfund.org |
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