Other than emergency medicine skills, what do doctors need to learn to prepare for a disaster?
WEISS: Physicians should become familiar with the chain of command that supercedes normal operations during a disaster. Disaster drills are opportunities for all physicians to participate in preparing our institution for the inevitable. Their feedback will then help us to make adaptations to the disaster plan and implement positive changes throughout the hospital – not just the Emergency Department. Q: What about triaging? WEISS: We’d probably be asking most physicians outside the Emergency Department to provide definitive and secondary care and leave the triaging to ED doctors, nurses and paramedics who are better trained and accustomed to performing triage. Q: How would you respond to doctors who say, “Wait a minute. If there’s a disaster, I’ll just show up and do what I’m told”? WEISS: Where are they going to show up? Most physicians do not know where to go during a disaster. Their natural response is to report to the Emergency Department, which creates further problems by creating
