The academic medical centre and nongovernmental organisation partnership following a natural disaster

  1. Babak Sarani1,
  2. Samir Mehta2,
  3. Michael Ashburn3,
  4. Koji Nakashima4,
  5. Rajan Gupta5,
  6. Derek Dombroski6,
  7. C. William Schwab7

Article first published online: 22 FEB 2012

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2012.01279.x

Issue

Disasters

Disasters

Volume 36, Issue 4, pages 609–616, October 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Sarani, B., Mehta, S., Ashburn, M., Nakashima, K., Gupta, R., Dombroski, D. and Schwab, C. W. (2012), The academic medical centre and nongovernmental organisation partnership following a natural disaster. Disasters, 36: 609–616. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2012.01279.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at the Department of Surgery, George Washington University, United States

  2. 2

    Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, United States

  3. 3

    Professor of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania, United States

  4. 4

    Staff Physician at Partners in Health, United States

  5. 5

    Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of Trauma Surgery at the Department of Surgery, Dartmouth College, United States

  6. 6

    Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, United States

  7. 7

    Professor of Surgery at the Division of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care, and Emergency Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, United States.

* Correspondence Babak Sarani, MD, 2150 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 6B, Washington, DC 20037, United States. Telephone: +1 202 741 3188; fax: +1 202 741 3219. E-mail: bsarani@mfa.gwu.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 5 SEP 2012
  2. Article first published online: 22 FEB 2012

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Keywords:

  • non-governmental organisation;
  • partnership;
  • surge capacity

The global response to the 12 January 2010 earthquake in Haiti revealed the ability to mobilise medical teams quickly and effectively when academic medical centres partner non-governmental organisations (NGO) that already have a presence in a zone of devastation. Most established NGOs based in a certain region are accustomed to managing the medical conditions that are common to that area and will need additional and specialised support to treat the flux of myriad injured persons. Furthermore, an NGO with an established presence in a region prior to a disaster appears better positioned to provide sustained recovery and rehabilitation relief. Academic medical centres can supply these essential specialised resources for a prolonged time. This relationship between NGOs and academic medical centres should be further developed prior to another disaster response. This model has great potential with regard to the rapid preparation and worldwide deployment of skilled medical and surgical teams when needed following a disaster, as well as to the subsequent critical recovery phase.

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