Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T18:19:34.564Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Information-Sharing in Out-of-Hospital Disaster Response: The Future Role of Information Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Jeffrey L. Arnold ,
Brian Neil Levine ,
R. Manmatha ,
Francis Lee ,
Prashant Shenoy ,
Ming-Che Tsai ,
Taha K. Ibrahim ,
Daniel J. O'Brien  and
Donald A. Walsh
Jeffrey L. Arnold*
Affiliation:
Yale-New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response and the Section of Emergency Medicine, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Brian Neil Levine
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
R. Manmatha
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Francis Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, Baystate Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
Prashant Shenoy
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Ming-Che Tsai
Affiliation:
Department of Trauma Service and Emergency Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan, Republic of China
Taha K. Ibrahim
Affiliation:
Accident and Emergency Medicine Department, Al Ain Hospital, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Daniel J. O'Brien
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Donald A. Walsh
Affiliation:
Chicago Fire Department, Bureau of Operations, Emergency Medical Services Division, Chicago, Illinois, USA
*
Yale-New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response, 1 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06519, USA E-mail: jeffrey.arnold@ynhh.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Numerous examples exist of the benefits of the timely access to information in emergencies and disasters. Information technology (IT) is playing an increasingly important role in information-sharing during emergencies and disasters.

The effective use of IT in out-of-hospital (OOH) disaster response is accompanied by numerous challenges at the human, applications, communication, and security levels.Most reports of IT applications to emergencies or disasters to date, concern applications that are hospital-based or occur during non-response phases of events (i.e., mitigation, planning and preparedness, or recovery phases). Few reports address the application of IT to OOH disaster response.

Wireless peer networks that involve ad hoc wireless routing networks and peer-to-peer application architectures offer a promising solution to the many challenges of information-sharing in OOH disaster response. These networks offer several services that are likely to improve information-sharing in OOH emergency response, including needs and capacity assessment databases, victim tracking, event logging, information retrieval, and overall incident management system support.

Keywords

disasteremergency managementgeographic information systemglobal positioning systeminformationinformation technologyInternetpersonal digital assistantwireless peer network
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 201 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.National Research Council: Reducing Disaster Losses through Better Information. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 1999, pp 1–61.Google Scholar
2.Stephenson, R, Anderson, PS: Disasters and the information technology revolution. Disasters 1997;21:305–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Allen, JH: The CERT Guide to System and Network Security Practices. Addison-Wesley. 2001.Google Scholar
4.Corner, M, Noble, BD: Protecting applications with transient authentication. In: The First International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services. San Francisco, CA; Mobi Sys O3, May 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Sanzgiri, K, Dahill, B, Levine, BN et al. : A secure routing protocol for ad hoc networks. Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols. November 2002.Google Scholar
6. need au: TCP SYN Flooding and IP Spoofing Attacks. CERT Advisory CA-1996-21. 19 September 1996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.United States (US) Department of Health and Human Services: Protecting the privacy of patients' health information. DHHS Website. Available at www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa. Accessed 17 June 2003.Google Scholar
8.Noji, EK: The nature of disaster: General characteristics and public health effects. In: Noji, EK (ed), The Public Health Consequences of Disasters. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp 3–20.Google Scholar
9.Pan American Health Organization: Humanitarian supply management system. DisasterInfo Website. Available at www.disaster.info.desastres.net/SUMA. Accessed 15 June 2003.Google Scholar
10.Hamilton, J: An Internet-based bar code tracking system: Coordination of confusion at mass casualty incidents. Disast Management Response 2003; 1(1):25–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Lawry, TC: The Internet as a disaster response tool. Health Progress 2002;63:9–10.Google Scholar
12.Libman, IM, LaPorte, RE, Akazawa, S et al. : The need for a global health disaster network. Prehosp Disast Med 1997;12:11–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Ochi, G, Shirakawa, Y, Asahi, S, Toriba, M: Information transmission through the Internet for the preparedness against venomous snake as the aftermath of Cambodian Flood in 1997. In: The 4th Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine Book of Abstracts. 1998;81.Google Scholar
14.Pan-American Health Organization: Health crisis and the Internet: Harnessing the power of the Internet for emergencies and epidemics. Prehosp Disast Med 1998;13:15–20.Google Scholar
15.Piper, PS, Burkle, FM, Murray, RJ: Constructing a World Wide Website for disaster management and humanitarian assistance. Prehosp Disast Med 1997;12:92–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Toro, J: The Internet and emergency management. Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Website. Available at www.seas.gwu.edu/%7Eemse232/emse232jan2003com4full.html. Accessed 15 June 2003.Google Scholar
17.Noordergraaf, GJ, Bouman, JH, Van Den Brink, EJ et al. : Development of computer-assisted patient control for use in the hospital setting during mass casualty incidents. Am J Emerg Med 1996;14:257–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Chandrasekhar, CP, Ghosh, J: Information and communications technologies and health in low income countries: The potential and the constraints. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2001;79:850–855.Google ScholarPubMed
19.NEED AU: GTRC projects: East Carolina State University Website. Available at http://www.telemed.med.ecu.edu/2001/international/projects.htm. Accessed 01 May 2003.Google Scholar
20.Cabrera, MF, Arredondo, MT, Rodriguez, A, Quiroga, J: Mobile technologies in the management of emergencies: The results of a telemedicine solution. Proceedings/AMAI Annual Symposium 2001;86–89.Google Scholar
21.Wu TC: The use of a personal digital assistant and network geographic information systems for a first aid drill for a greatly number of injured people at a regional toxic disaster. In: Chiu, WT (ed), International Symposium on Recent Advances in Disaster Prevention. 2002; Taipei, Taiwan, ROC: National Institute of Injury Prevention; 2002:D5–D9.Google Scholar
22.Teich, JM, Wagner, MM, Mackenzie, CF, Shafer, KO: The informatics response in disaster, terrorism, and war. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 2002;9:97–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Li, YC: Constructing a Disaster Medical Resource Information Center and Database. International Symposium on Recent Advances in Disaster Prevention. In: Chiu, WT (ed), International Symposium on Recent Advances in Disaster Prevention. 2002; Taipei, Taiwan, ROC: National Institute of Injury Prevention 2002;D49–D54.Google Scholar
24.Business Wire: Nextel prepares for Hurricane Isabel. 17 September 2003. ClariNews Website. Available at http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/cm/Bva-nextel.R1gD_DSH.html. Accessed 13 July 2004.Google Scholar
25.Perkins, CE, Royer, EM: Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing. In: Perkins, CE (ed), Ad hoc Networking. CITY: Addison-Wesley Publishers. 2000.Google Scholar
26. Anonymous: Radio frequency tags. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Website. Available at http://availabletechnologies.pnl.gov/securityelectronics/rftags.stm. Accessed 02 May 2003.Google Scholar
27. Anonymous: RFID. The Association for Automatic Identification and Data Capture Technologies. Available at www.aimglobal.org Accessed 02 May 2003.Google Scholar