Hospital-based disaster preparedness for pediatric patients: how to design a realistic set of drill victims.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this report is to describe an innovative idea for hospital pediatric victim disaster planning.

DESIGN

This is a descriptive manuscript outlining an innovative approach to exercise planning.

SETTING

All hospitals.

PATIENTS

In this report, we describe a model set of patients for pediatric disaster simulation.

RESULTS

An epidemiologically based set of mock victims.

CONCLUSIONS

We believe that by enhancing pediatric disaster simulation exercises, hospital personnel and decision makers will be better prepared for an actual disaster event involving pediatric victims.