Deployment of field hospitals to disaster regions: Insights from ten medical relief operations spanning three decades

American Journal of Disaster Medicine
Michael NaorOfer Merin

Abstract

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Medical Corps developed a model of airborne field hospital. This model was structured to deal with disaster settings, requiring self-sufficiency, innovation and flexible operative mode in the setup of large margins of uncertainty regarding the disaster environment. The current study is aimed to critically analyze the experience, gathered in ten such missions worldwide. Interviews with physicians who actively participated in the missions from 1988 until 2015 as chief medical officers combined with literature review of principal medical and auxiliary publications in order to assess and integrate information about the assembly of these missions. A body of knowledge was accumulated over the years by the IDF Medical Corps from deploying numerous relief missions to both natural (earthquake, typhoon, and tsunami), and man-made disasters, occurring in nine countries (Armenia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Turkey, India, Haiti, Japan, Philippines, and Nepal). This study shows an evolutionary pattern with improvements implemented from one mission to the other, with special adaptations (creativity and improvisation) to accommodate logistics barriers. The principals and operative function for deploying medical relief syst...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 7, 2020·Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness·Eli JaffeEvan Avraham Alpert
May 15, 2021·Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness·David McMaster, Gerry Clare
Jul 7, 2021·World Medical & Health Policy·Timothy DeVitaRebecca Katz

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