Engendering enthusiasm for sustainable disaster critical care response why this is of consequence to critical care professionals.docVIP

Available online /content/9/2/125 Commentary Engendering enthusiasm for sustainable disaster critical care response: why this is of consequence to critical care professionals? Saqib I Dara1, Rendell W Ashton2 and J Christopher Farmer3 1Critical Care Medicine fellow, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA 2Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellow, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA 3Consultant in Critical Care Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and the Program in Translational Immunovirology and Biodefense, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Corresponding author: J Christopher Farmer, farmer.j@ Published online: 27 January 2005 Critical Care 2005, 9:125-127 (DOI 10.1186/cc3048) This article is online at /content/9/2/125 ? 2005 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract closest hospitals, which had a maximum ICU capacity of 28 beds, most of which were already occupied [3]. After the terrorist bombing in Bali, the Royal Darwin Hospital in Australia, with a capacity to care for a maximum of 12 ventilated patients, was presented with 20 critically ill patients, 15 of whom required mechanical ventilation [4]. Flooding due to heavy rain in June 2001 crippled the Texas Medical Center in Houston, and resulted in a sudden loss of 75% of the ICU bed capacity for a county of 4 million people [5]. And it is not just ICU bed capacity that is subject to being overwhelmed. Damage to the physical and organizational structure of the hospital may wipe out an entire critical care infrastructure. Some disasters may harm healthcare workers, thus limiting available ICU personnel. This was the case during the Tokyo Sarin gas subway attack in 1995, and more Disaster medical response has historically focused on the pre