Abstract
AIM: The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify the extent and implications of medication loss and the burden of prescription refill on medical relief teams following extreme weather events and other natural hazards. METHOD: The search strategy followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Key health journal databases (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Maternity and Infant Care, and Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC)) were searched via the OvidSP search engine. Search terms were identified by consulting MeSH terms. The inclusion criteria comprised articles published from January 2003 to August 2013, written in English and containing an abstract. The exclusion criteria included abstracts for conferences or dissertations, book chapters and articles written in a language other than English. A total of 70 articles which fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in this systematic review. RESULTS: All relevant information was collated regarding medication loss, prescription loss and refills, and medical aids loss which indicated a significant burden on the medical relief teams. Data also showed the difficulty in filling prescriptions due to lack of information from the evacuees. People with chronic conditions are most at risk when their medication is not available. This systematic review also showed that medical aids such as eye glasses, hearing aids as well as dental treatment are a high necessity among evacuees. DISCUSSION: This systematic review revealed that a considerable number of patients lose their medication during evacuation, many lose essential medical aids such as insulin pens and many do not bring prescriptions with them when evacuated.. Since medication loss is partly a responsibility of evacuees, understanding the impact of medication loss may lead to raising awareness and better preparations among the patients and health care professionals. People who are not prepared could have worse outcomes and many risk dying when their medication is not available.
Highlights
After an extreme weather event or other natural hazard, the continuity of routine care is one of many challenging aspects of post disaster healthcare
All relevant information was collated regarding medication loss, prescription loss and refills, and medical aids loss which indicated a significant burden on the medical relief teams
Since medication loss is partly a responsibility of evacuees, understanding the impact of medication loss may lead to raising awareness and better preparations among the patients and health care professionals
Summary
After an extreme weather event or other natural hazard, the continuity of routine care is one of many challenging aspects of post disaster healthcare. Recognising the impact of extreme events on healthcare facilities, normal functioning is still required for people needing routine health management such as oncological treatment, dialysis and maternity care, as well as those people with chronic conditions who require daily medication to maintain their wellbeing. Interruption of routine medication lead can lead to an exacerbation of chronic conditions such as insulin-dependent diabetes 4 and infectious diseases for example tuberculosis 5. This can potentially cause secondary life-threatening outcomes as a result of the deterioration of chronic conditions such as ischemic heart diseases among patients with hypertension 6, and low compliance to medication regimens in the future 7,8
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