Ascolese Micaela A, Keyes Kelly A, Ropero-Miller Jeri D, Wire Sean E, Smiley-McDonald Hope M
RTI International, 3040 East Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA.
Forensic Sci Int Synerg. 2024 Feb 14;8:100462. doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2024.100462. eCollection 2024.
With the rise of mass fatalities and disasters, access to mass fatality and disaster planning trainings and resources available to medical examiners and coroners (MECs) in the United States should be reviewed. This paper provides a necessary update on the extent of access to these resources by analyzing data from the 2018 Census for Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices (CMEC). Results show that a high percentage of respondents have access to mass fatality and disaster planning trainings/resources; however, the access is disproportionate. Respondents in the Midwest and South-and those with smaller populations-have less access to resources, while agencies with larger budgets and more full-time staff have more access to resources. This paper discusses potential contributing factors for these disparities, but the data only begin to elucidate gaps in access to mass fatality and disaster planning trainings/resources for MECs and where further research should be conducted.
随着大规模死亡事件和灾难的增加，应对美国法医和验尸官（MECs）可获得的大规模死亡和灾难规划培训及资源的情况应予以审视。本文通过分析2018年法医和验尸官办公室普查（CMEC）的数据，对获取这些资源的程度进行了必要的更新。结果显示，很大比例的受访者能够获得大规模死亡和灾难规划培训/资源；然而，获取情况并不均衡。中西部和南部的受访者以及人口较少地区的受访者获得资源的机会较少，而预算较大且全职工作人员较多的机构获得资源的机会更多。本文讨论了造成这些差异的潜在因素，但这些数据只是初步揭示了法医和验尸官在获取大规模死亡和灾难规划培训/资源方面的差距以及应在哪些方面开展进一步研究。
