Disaster surge planning in Australia: measuring the immeasurable

Robertson, Andrew G; Cooper, David M

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb00969.x

A call for better data and focused research

Surge capacity has been defined as the “health care system’s ability to manage a sudden or rapidly progressive influx of patients within the currently available resources at a given point in time”.1 This term entered the disaster medicine lexicon after “9/11” 2001, and has become a key feature of health disaster planning since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks, the rising threat of pandemic influenza, and the Madrid and London bombings in 2004 and 2005.

1 Health Protection Group, Department of Health, Perth, WA.
2 Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, and National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT.

Correspondence: andrew.robertson@health.wa.gov.au

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