ABPS begins certification in disaster medicine
It seems as if tragedies have been plastered all over the news lately. Tornadoes, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks are an unwelcome and recurring theme in today's uncertain world. So, for physicians who are stuck at home watching the news unfold on television, feeling hopeless, and wishing they could do more to help, the
American Board of Physician Specialties
(ABPS of Atlanta) has come up with a solution: certification in disaster medicine.
The board will accept applications from physicians of various specialties beginning May 1 and plans to administer the first exam this fall.
The certification in disaster medicine was formed after 2 years of intense focus on the subject due to the need for responders to effectively organize and coordinate disaster planning. "Disasters transcend all medical specialties," said
David McCann
, MD, FAASFP, vice chair of the American Board of Disaster Medicine (ABDM). "When you're in a disaster, we call upon information from medical specialists of a variety of specialties. For instance, during 9/11, radiologists performed a profound and important service in New York by offering their services to various hospitals where the regular staff was displaced. Additionally, cardiologists are certainly required for the field, because we have a lot of people who have heart attacks due to the stress of a storm and not having their medicine. These kinds of medical professionals would have a very significant impact in a disaster area, were they to offer their services."
The exam takes a distinct multi-specialty approach, focusing on group coordination and individual leadership in the face of a tragedy. "We had to draw together all the information from the various specialties and then make it so that any doctor in any specialty could, on his or her own, develop the necessary knowledge base to answer a general disaster-medicine exam," McCann said. "General medical questions would apply in a disaster and, more importantly, questions as to how to mitigate and prevent disasters, how to respond in a disaster, how to protect yourself and your colleagues, and how to apply the incident command systems and the national incident management system to a disaster situation. We deliberately decided to have an exam that would cross all specialties.
"For years, emergency medical managers have criticized organized medical medicine, [saying] that we are too compartmentalized and that in a disaster, everyone knows their own little area and nobody can see and manage the big picture," he continued. "We are asking that physicians who want to be certified in disaster medicine go beyond their specialty. Will that require some extra study? Absolutely. We believe it's something that's absolutely required to prepare this country's emergency preparedness, both for man-made and natural disasters."
ABPS CEO
William Carbone
added, "Our country must be prepared for disasters every day, whether terrorist attacks, natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, or health crises such as a flu pandemic. This program is an integral step in preparing our nation's health systems so that when these disasters strike, we can work together as a team."
For more information on the ABDM, visit
www.abpsga.org/certification/disaster_medicine/index.html
.
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