Volume 38 · Number 2
FEBRUARY 2008
Physician-Psychiatrists’ Role in Disaster Response Efforts
By Nicholas G. Pejic, MD; Harold M. Ginzburg, MD, JD, MPH
Psychiatrists are the only members of the mental health team with medical training and, in most states, with prescriptive authority for U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) scheduled (controlled) substances that include many sedative-hypnotics, anxiolytics, stimulants, and narcotics. During a disaster, the community will look to physicians to provide a critical leadership role in the medical management of the disaster causalities. The community will look toward psychiatrists to work with their physician colleagues in treating the mental health complications of serious medical and surgical conditions and replacing the dislocation of medical services for the chronically medically and mentally ill. Psychiatrists must be prepared to accept this role and have the skills and knowledge to do it well.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nicholas G. Pejic, MD, and Harold M. Ginzburg, MD, JD, MPH, are from the Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Dr. Ginzburg is also with the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, and the Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences School of Medicine.
Address correspondence to: Harold M. Ginzburg, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Suite 200, 3340 Severn Avenue, Metairie, LA 70002; fax 504-613-4913; or e-mail haroldginzburg@hotmail.com.
Dr. Pejic and Dr. Ginzburg have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
To Human Resilience
Jan Fawcett, MD
Long-term Psychiatric Consequences of Hurricane Katrina
Harold M. Ginzburg, MD, JD, MPH
Psychiatric Disorders among Transported Hurricane Evacuees: Acute-phase Findings in a Large Receiving Shelter Site
Carol S. North, MD, MPE;
Richard V. King, PhD;
Raymond L. Fowler, MD, FACEP;
Peter Polatin, MD, MPH;
Rebecca P. Smith, MD;
H. Alan LaGrone, MD, PhD;
David Tyler, MD;
G. Luke Larkin, MD, MS, MSPH;
Paul E. Pepe, MD, MPH
First Responder Culture: Implications for Mental Health Professionals Providing Services Following a Natural Disaster
Mindy Kronenberg, PhD;
Howard J. Osofsky, MD, PhD;
Joy D. Osofsky, PhD;
Michele Many, LCSW;
Melissa Hardy, GSW;
James Arey, PhD, LPC
A Review of Mental Health Issues as a Result of Hurricane Katrina
Mordecai N. Potash, MD;
Daniel K. Winstead, MD
Katrina Survivors Relocated to Oklahoma: A Tale of Two Cities
Phebe Tucker, MD;
Betty Pfefferbaum, MD, JD;
Qaiser Khan, MPH;
M. Jan Young, MD;
Christopher E. Aston, PhD;
Janell Holmes, BS;
Kim A. Coon, EdD;
Jamie Thompson
Did the Prevalence of PTSD Following Hurricane Katrina Match a Rapid Needs Assessment Prediction? A Template for Future Public Planning After Large-Scale Disasters
Richard Dalton, MD;
Michael S. Scheeringa, MD, MPH;
Charles H. Zeanah, MD
New Orleans Medical Students post-Katrina — an Assessment of Psychopathology and Anticipatory Transference of Resilience
Harold M. Ginzburg, MD, JD, MPH;
David J. Bateman
