Identification Procedures of Disaster-Injured Children in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit After the 2023 Türkiye
Kübra İrday1, İlknur Arslan2,3,4
1Department of Pediatrics, Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Adana, Türkiye.
Insights
This study outlines procedures for identifying children affected by the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes, defining disaster-injured persons (DIPs) and disaster-injured person identification (DIPI) in pediatric intensive care. It highlights the need for pre-established protocols for systematic disaster victim identification.
Area of Science:
- Disaster Medicine
- Forensic Pediatrics
- Public Health
Background:
- Existing disaster victim identification protocols lack universal definitions for disaster-injured persons (DIPs) and their identification (DIPI).
- Previous research focused on demographic data, diagnosis, treatment, and mortality of DIPs, but not standardized identification methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present the procedures and outcomes of disaster-injured person identification (DIPI) in a pediatric intensive care unit following the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes.
- To define the concepts of disaster-injured persons (DIPs) and disaster-injured person identification (DIPI).
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 84 children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit between February 6-28, 2023.
- Utilized electronic health records and social services records for patient information and identification procedures.
- Applied distinct identification protocols based on the child's ability to provide a statement.
Main Results:
- Identification was achieved through visual assessment in 71 children and DNA analysis in 13 children.
- Two distinct procedures were implemented for identifying children, tailored to their capacity to communicate.
Conclusions:
- Disaster victim identification is a multidisciplinary process requiring physician expertise, social services, law enforcement, and prosecutorial involvement.
- Standardized procedures and algorithms for disaster-injured person identification (DIPI) should be established pre-disaster to ensure systematic and legal processes.
- The shared procedures aim to assist centers in managing future disaster response and victim identification.
Objective:
In the literature, there is a disaster victim identification protocol published by Interpol for people who died during disasters. There are publications on earthquake-related demographic data, diagnosis, treatment, and mortality for disaster-injured persons (DIPs). However, there is no universally accepted definition or method for disaster-injured person identification (DIPI). The aim of this study is to present the procedures and results that were implemented in the pediatric intensive care unit during identification after the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes and to define the concepts of DIP and DIPI.
Materials And Methods:
This study was conducted with 84 children who were admitted to pediatric intensive care unit between February 6 and 28, 2023. Patients' information was obtained from the electronic health records system. Information on identification procedures applied to children was obtained from the social services records.
Results:
"Procedure for children brought to the Adana City Training and Research Hospital who are able to provide a statement" and "Procedure for children brought to the hospital who, due to young age or adverse health conditions, are unable to provide a statement" were applied for identification. Identification was made with visual assessment in 71 children and DNA analysis in 13 children.
Conclusion:
Identification is a complex process involving a physician, social services specialist, law enforcement, and prosecutor. Physicians must be knowledgeable about identification. To ensure a more systematic and legal identification, procedures and algorithms should be determined before the disaster. The hope is that procedures that are shared in this article will be helpful to centers.
