Disaster Medicine

Abstract

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) has a policy related to the physician assistants (PAs) response in disaster situations. Below are two of the core guidelines from this policy.1American Academy of Physician Assistants 2018-2019 Policy Manual AAPA.2019https://www.aapa.org/download/48096/Google Scholar•AAPA believes PAs are established and valued participants in the health care system of this country and are fully qualified to deliver medical services during disaster relief efforts.•AAPA supports educational activities that prepare the profession for participation in disaster medical planning, training, and response. The first guideline states that PAs are qualified to deliver medical services during disaster relief efforts, and the second states that educational activities that prepare PAs to participate should be available to PAs. With that in mind, this issue provides an overview of disaster medicine and what a PA should know in some of these situations. This is not a comprehensive review; there are a number of other resources available if you would like more information. In this issue, we provide information on some of the more focused topics in disaster medicine. Taylor and Kesterson provide a review of chemical threats; Taylor and Reeder discuss radioactive contamination. Showstark, the guest editor for this issue, discusses treating patients after bombs and blasts; Radi and Patrick discuss the care associated with vehicle blasts. Taylor and Kesterson also review high-risk pathogens. Fisher and Carius discuss stopping the bleed in a disaster. Not every article in this issue has to do with the care of patients. The care of the responders to disasters is discussed by Florio and Bergman; Lovejoy and Showstark describe the standard of care in crisis, and Duran-Stanton and Stanton discuss the importance of responder communication in a disaster and discuss the residence, resilience, and resources in vulnerable populations in a disaster. It is recommended that all PAs learn about disaster medicine; after reading this issue, you can stay updated by reading the latest news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://emergency.cdc.gov) and the National Disaster Medical System (https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ndms/Pages/default.aspx). I hope you enjoy this issue. Our next issue is a little different and will cover Intrinsic Skills for Physician Assistants.