• Ning-Ping Foo, Ya-Yun Cheng, Yu-Cheng Hung, Shih-Tien Pan, Yu-Long Chen, Keng-Wei Hu, and Chung-Yu Chen.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, An Nan Hospital, China Medical University, Tainan, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan, Taiwan.
• J Formos Med Assoc. 2022 Apr 1; 121 (4): 815-823.

Background/PurposeTaiwan set up disaster medical assistance teams (DMATs) after the Chi-Chi earthquake, but these teams lack unified standards.MethodsThis study was divided into two phases. Phase I was a Delphi study conducted in 2019 with 26 experts who were invited to establish Taiwan's DMAT standards by modifying the World Health Organization Emergency Medical Team (WHO EMT) type I fixed standards. Phase II was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2020. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the disaster preparedness of DMATs by standards set in phase I.ResultsIn phase I, Taiwan's DMAT standards were established after three rounds of Delphi consensus, with a response rate of 88.5%. The major departures from the WHO EMT standards were the exclusion of obstetric care, mental health, rehabilitation, and laboratory and blood transfusion standards and the addition of an ultrasound standard. During phase II, a total of 32 teams were invited, and the response rate was 96.9%. The overall standard achievement rate was 56.9%, and the three lowest achievement rates corresponded to sanitation (22.6%), medical malpractice insurance (25.8%), and pharmacy and drug supply (25.8%). The national DMATs, official DMATs, DMATs funded by government, and DMATs with ≥10 years of experience had significantly higher achievement rates for partial or overall standards.ConclusionUsing localized standards to evaluate the disaster preparedness of each team, DMATs were found to have many shortcomings mainly due to the lack of unified government announcement standards, legal protection, and adequate financial support.Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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