A qualitative and quantitative study of the surgical and rehabilitation response to the earthquake in Haiti, January 2010.

BACKGROUND The disaster response environment in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake represented a complex healthcare challenge. This study was designed to identify challenges during the Haiti disaster response. METHODS Qualitative and quantitative study of injured patients carried out six months after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti to review the surgical inputs of foreign medical teams. RESULTS Study findings revealed a need during the response for improved medical records and data gathering for regulation, quality assurance, coordination and resource allocation; wider adherence to standard patient referral mechanisms and protocols linking surgical service provision with appropriate hospital and community based rehabilitation services; a greater recognition of the impact of non-amputation injury, and the need for patients to have a greater say in their management and to be the keepers of their medical records. Key first steps to improving the international response are a minimum dataset and uniform reporting. CONCLUSION This study showed that challenges for emergency medical response during the Haiti Earthquake involved issues of accountability, professional ethics, standards-of-care, unmet needs, patient agency and expected outcomes for patients in such settings: