O3191: Pediatric & Family Reunification – Preparing Hospitals for Disaster Care Beyond the Medicine

Purpose/Objectives: Pediatric and family reunification is a critical aspect of hospital disaster planning as children are a unique population who often cannot advocate for themselves or answer questions regarding their health. In 2019, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) funded two Pediatric Disaster Centers of Excellence (COE) one of which is Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region V for Kids. A national survey conducted in 2019 found only 66% of hospitals felt prepared for pediatric reunification despite all agreeing on the importance of pediatric reunification planning (Health Security, 2021). A Reunification Workgroup was formed to develop and disseminate a Reunification Best Practice Tool to better prepare hospitals nationally for pediatric and family reunification.

Design/Methods: This pilot project is a pre-and-post-implementation study in which 9 hospitals within FEMA Region V for Kids were surveyed regarding their reunification planning. A series of educational modules were developed to respond to deficits revealed via the gap analysis from the original 9 children’s hospitals. These 5 modules: (1) Patient Tracking, (2) Hospital Reunification Areas, (3) Information Sharing, (4) Plan Activation, and (5) Recovery were developed by the workgroup using the American Academy of Pediatrics Family Reunification Following Disasters: A Planning Tool for Health Care Facilities and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Caring for Children in a Disaster. Modules were virtually presented each month starting January 2024 and the last module to be presented in May 2024. A post-implementation survey is planned for summer 2024, after completion of the educational series to analyze the effectiveness of the modules.

Results: All 9 children’s hospitals within FEMA Region V for Kids responded to the pre-implementation survey in 2022. Survey results showed all hospitals had a designated group or individual in charge of reunification planning but only 7 hospitals had a documented reunification plan. 8 hospitals had a standardized approach to identifying children and families before reunifying but only 7 had a designated tracking form. 8 hospitals had a designated space for family reunification and a pediatric safe area. 6 hospitals had or are in the process of formulating a plan to address legal considerations. All hospitals planned to exercise their reunification plans but only 7 had an annual exercise. All hospitals have after-action reports following a disaster.

Conclusion/Discussion: Our pilot project is one of the first federally funded reunification educational exercises developed for standardizing pediatric and family reunification for hospitals. Future projects should be considered to enhance current regional efforts to better pediatric disaster readiness for both adult and children’s hospitals nationwide.