TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Prehospital indicators for disaster preparedness and response: New York City Emergency Medical Services in Hurricane Sandy
JO  - Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
A1  - Smith, Silas W.
A1  - Braun, James
A1  - Portelli, Ian
A1  - Malik, Sidrah
A1  - Asaeda, Glenn
A1  - Lancet, Elizabeth
A1  - Wang, Binhuan
A1  - Hu, Ming
A1  - Lee, David C.
A1  - Prezant, David J.
A1  - Goldfrank, Lewis R.
SP  - 333
EP  - 343
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
N2  - OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate emergency medical services (EMS) data as disaster metrics and to assess stress in surrounding hospitals and a municipal network after the closure of Bellevue Hospital during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. <br><br>METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed EMS activity and call types within New York City's 911 computer-assisted dispatch database from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013. We evaluated EMS ambulance transports to individual hospitals during Bellevue's closure and incremental recovery from urgent care capacity, to freestanding emergency department (ED) capability, freestanding ED with 911-receiving designation, and return of inpatient services. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 2,877,087 patient transports were available for analysis; a total of 707,593 involved Manhattan hospitals. The 911 ambulance transports disproportionately increased at the 3 closest hospitals by 63.6%, 60.7%, and 37.2%. When Bellevue closed, transports to specific hospitals increased by 45% or more for the following call types: blunt traumatic injury, drugs and alcohol, cardiac conditions, difficulty breathing, "pedestrian struck," unconsciousness, altered mental status, and emotionally disturbed persons. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: EMS data identified hospitals with disproportionately increased patient loads after Hurricane Sandy. Loss of Bellevue, a public, safety net medical center, produced statistically significant increases in specific types of medical and trauma transports at surrounding hospitals. Focused redeployment of human, economic, and social capital across hospital systems may be required to expedite regional health care systems recovery. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;0:1-11).<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1935-7893
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.175
ID  - ref1
ER  -