Disaster Medicine in Taiwan

This study aimed to examine scientific publications that were related to disaster medicine and were authored by emergency medicine physicians in Taiwan. This descriptive study utilized the electronic databases of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Academic works that were published between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2018, were collected for review and analysis. Of the 53 articles included in the final analysis,40 (75.5%) were original research, 3 (5.7%) were reviews, 1 (1.9%) was a brief report, and 9 (17.0%) were perspectives. The top 5 themes were disaster response systems (17, 32.1%), endemic diseases (11, 20.8%), emergency department (ED) overcrowding (10, 18.9%), earthquakes (10, 18.9%), and ED administration (9, 17.0%). Sixteen (30.2%) articles involved international collaborations. The median, interquartile range and range of the numbers of citations of the articles were 3, 1-11, and 0-65, respectively. Twenty-four (45.3%) articles were related to specific incidents: the Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999 (n = 5), the Singapore airline crash in 2000 (n = 1), Typhoon Nari in 2001 (n = 1), the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 (n = 7), Typhoon Morakot in 2009 (n = 1), the color party explosion in Formosa Fun Coast Park in 2015 (n = 4), and the Tainan earthquake in 2016 (n = 5). Regarding the study methods, 19 (35.8%) articles were quantitative studies; 10 (18.9%) were qualitative or semiqualitative studies; 8 (15.1%) used questionnaire surveys; 3 (5.7%) were literature reviews; 3 (5.7%) used computer simulations; and 10 (18.9%) were descriptive/narrative or other types of studies. Though the number of academic publications related to disaster medicine from the EDs in Taiwan is relatively limited, the quality and diversity of research seem promising. The research environment and education programs on disaster medicine in Taiwan deserve thoughtful consideration.