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Preparing for the realities of a disaster deployment: Tips, hints, and suggestions for healthcare professionals

Elaine Lust, PharmD, Kenneth P. Hermsen, DDS, MS

Abstract


The sharing of common deployment realities learned during medical disaster deployments is intended to assist other healthcare professionals who serve on local, state, regional, or federal disaster response teams. The tips, hints, and suggestions communicated in this article are categorized into four main areas: personal realities, disaster scene realities, practice change realities, and disaster management realities. By sharing disaster realities from “boots on the ground” experience, the authors hope to soften the learning curve that can accompany a medical disaster deployment for other healthcare professionals.

Keywords


disaster learning curve, disaster realities, deployment, disaster medicine

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.2008.0010

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