C. Salinas et al., THE EFFECTS OF THE NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE ON THE PATTERN OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT CARE, The American journal of emergency medicine, 16(3), 1998, pp. 254-256
This study's objective was to describe the types of injuries that shou
ld be anticipated after a major earthquake, Data for the 6 days prior
to the earthquake, the 6 days after the earthquake, and for the day of
the earthquake the previous year were obtained from the Emergency Dep
artment of Northridge Hospital, Northridge, CA, Demographic data, incl
uding age and sex, as well as the reason for the visit, were obtained
from patient logs. The average number of patients per day was 110 befo
re the earthquake and 185 after the earthquake. On the day of the eart
hquake, 343 patients were seen. Lacerations increased from 7.1% of all
visits before the earthquake to 22.4% after the earthquake (P < .01),
Immediately after the Northridge earthquake, there was a threefold in
crease in emergency patient visits. The biggest increase occurred in t
he number of patients presenting with contusions and lacerations, The
number of pregnant women presenting in labor and with vaginal bleeding
also increased. Disaster managers should take these patterns into acc
ount when planning for major seismic events. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B
. Saunders Company.