Citation

Knebel AR, Sharpe VA, Danis M, Toomey LM, Knickerbocker DK. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2014; 8(1): 79-88.

Affiliation

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Emergency Management, US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/dmp.2014.9

PMID

24612854

Abstract

During catastrophic disasters, government leaders must decide how to efficiently and effectively allocate scarce public health and medical resources. The literature about triage decision making at the individual patient level is substantial, and the National Response Framework provides guidance about the distribution of responsibilities between federal and state governments. However, little has been written about the decision-making process of federal leaders in disaster situations when resources are not sufficient to meet the needs of several states simultaneously. We offer an ethical framework and logic model for decision making in such circumstances. We adapted medical triage and the federalism principle to the decision-making process for allocating scarce federal public health and medical resources. We believe that the logic model provides a values-based framework that can inform the gestalt during the iterative decision process used by federal leaders as they allocate scarce resources to states during catastrophic disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-10).

Language: en