Background

Pediatric disaster medicine has been an evolving field in recent years, with multiple different participants from a wide multidisciplinary community. As there have been more frequent episodes of “crisis” situations, ranging from mass casualty events to surge demands to widespread pandemics, it has become increasingly appreciated that children are often disproportionately impacted and pediatric specialty resources are limited.

The pediatric surgical role in any disaster scenario is limited. This is important to consider when appreciating the massive scope of response entities that engage in an event and how they are organized. The initial sections of this chapter will provide references for general disaster management tools, guidelines, and further educational materials that, together, are too extensive and beyond the scope of this chapter to cover in their entirety. The remainder of the chapter will focus primarily on pediatric-specific perspectives within disaster management. Pediatric Clinical considerations and delivery of care are one part of that discussion; the other is the systems and administrative considerations that one must appreciate to lead during a crisis event.

see also Global Pediatric Surgery