Citation

Ramos-Zúñiga R, Arellano-Contreras JR, Rochin-Mozqueda JA, Plascencia-JİMéNEZ JA. Turk. Neurosurg. 2019; 29(3): 317-322.

Affiliation

Institute of Traslational Neurosciences, Health Sciences University Center, University of Guadalajara.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Turkish Neurosurgical Society)

DOI

10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.24629-18.2

PMID

30984992

Abstract

Every year, natural or people -generated disasters disrupt the functioning of society, causing human and material loses which leads to an increase in the demand of medical attention. In the morning of September 19th , 2017 a 7.1 earthquake stroke Mexico City an four other cities, leaving around 19 million people affected and 331 deaths. Although the medical response was timely, most of the efforts fell short because demand exceeded responsiveness. This incident evidenced the challenges that we have as caregivers with mass medical emergency, and the need of direct and well-structured interventions of professional-medical associations in the immediate response, on both in-site and in-hospital settings. The aim of this paper is to make an analysis of how we respond to these medical emergencies and which new strategies have been proposed, in order to identify the weaknesses and areas of improvement to restructure our emergency intervention. We searched all the information in both official institutional and social media with a public sanitary scope. We submitted this information to a descriptive qualitative analysis and compared with official information and management. We found an important role of social media as a mean of communication and civil organization. Collegiate medical societies, such as neurosurgeons, showed a limited reach, little on-site intervention and poor use of social media and other strategies to improve the response. Finally, we make a proposition of how we may approach these mass medical emergencies in a better way, taking advantage of new technologies and strategies.

Language: en