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Telemedicine and Information Technology for Disaster Medical Scenarios

Disasters constitute events which are catastrophic in nature. Such events critically threaten the health, safety, and lives of people and their environment (and even aspects of the global environment), and as a result, overwhelm the affected community’s emergency response capacity. Globally, a major disaster occurs almost daily. Consequently, disaster events are virtually an everyday fact of life. Emergency medical services constitute one important aspect of disaster responses. Those populations affected by disasters require a complete range of health services and the appropriate mechanism of delivery. In this respect, increasingly, information technology is playing a greater role. Disaster medicine has become more than merely a mass-casualty, and affected health response; the affected population’s needs are assessed, which range from medical requirements, to rapidly coordinating and providing casualty, routine, and preventive health services. These kinds of assessments are significantly more effective, given the appropriate deployment of current information technology. There are three major time phases associated with disaster response (Patoli, 2005). In the Predisaster Phase, emphasis is placed on activities which address prevention and preparedness, which entail hazard and vulnerability assessments, human and material resource inventory, comprehensive planning, and exercises to test disaster and recovery plans, capabilities, and skills. In the Disaster Relief Operations Phase (hours to weeks), assessment of damage and consequent recovery requirements, and the planning and implementation of emergency plans, have priority. The Postdisaster Rehabilitation Phase may extend for months, or even years, as management, maintenance, and infrastructure, and various community activities are rehabilitated and restored. Telemedicine can be integrated into all of the actives of medical disaster management. This article will explore the role of telemedicine in (medical) disaster management. The use of communications pathways—information technologies which include global positioning system (GPS) technologies, hypermedia, artificial intelligence, software and hardware for computer miniaturization, and advanced wireless sensor systems—in telemedicine will be discussed with respect to their advantages, disadvantages, and future potential.