Citation

Schreiber M, Pfefferbaum B, Sayegh L. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2012; 6(2): 174-181.

Affiliation

Center for Disaster Medical Sciences, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, California (Dr Schreiber); Department of Psychiatry, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Dr Pfefferbaum); Office of the Command Surgeon, North American Aerospace Defense Command-US Northern Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado (Dr Sayegh).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1001/dmp.2012.22

PMID

22700028

Abstract

Although increasing evidence suggests that children are at particular risk from disasters and evidence-based practices have been developed to triage and treat them effectively, no strategy or concept of operations linking best practices for disaster response is currently in place. To our knowledge, this report describes the first effort to address this critical gap and outlines a triage-driven children's disaster mental health incident response strategy for seamless preparedness, response, and recovery elements that can be used now. The national children's disaster mental health concept of operations (NCDMH CONOPS) details the essential elements needed for an interoperable, coordinated response for the mental health needs of children by local communities, counties, regions, and states to better meet the needs of children affected by disasters and terrorism incidents. This CONOPS for children proposes the use of an evidence-based, rapid triage system to provide a common data metric to incident response and recovery action and to rationally align limited resources to those at greater need in a population-based approach.

Language: en