Pediatric Disaster Medicine Curriculum: Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs and Disasters

Disasters can severely disrupt the care of children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN), especially those with medical complexities (CMC). This module explores the impact of disasters on these populations and defines your role as a pediatric provider across all phases of the disaster cycle.  Through interactive case scenarios, you’ll practice triaging medically and behaviorally complex patients in both clinic and hospital settings - ensuring continuity of care when it’s needed most. 

What You Will Learn

• Define children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN) and the subset, children with medical complexities (CMC) within the context of the potential impact of disasters.

• Identify your role and responsibilities as a pediatric provider through all phases of the disaster cycle, and an ideal method of communicating that role to CYSHCN families.

• Describe the team-based approach and list stakeholders that you can access to help families with disaster preparedness efforts, including the assembly of disaster kits and emergency information forms.

• Identify methods to prevent interruption of healthcare services for these high-risk patients during a disaster, ensuring the ability to continue to manage hospital and/or clinic-based patients.

• Practice triaging an example panel of patients with medical complexity during a disaster scenario in both clinic and hospital settings.