Pediatric disaster preparedness and health disparities: Gaps, future goals, and recommendations.

OBJECTIVE: The healthcare disparity focus group within the Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management aimed to identify barriers to optimal care for children affected by disasters and potential opportunities for improvement. METHODS: The study was conducted in six focus groups during the summer of 2023. A survey was distributed to individuals in emergency management and disaster medicine to collect demographic data. The survey also assessed the total number of trainings that participants attended. The focus group discussions were led by experienced qualitative researchers. Participants could also respond to the questions during the meetings on a digital note-taking platform. These discussions were then transcribed and analyzed using ATLAS.ti. The data from the survey were analyzed using SPSS, Windows Version 29.0. RESULTS: The survey included 49 people. The focus group meetings revealed multiple themes and subthemes that reflected the challenges that emergency management and disaster medicine professionals face when combating health disparities and raising awareness for pediatric populations. The challenges that these professionals face include funding, communication, gaps in knowledge, gaps in technology, and a lack of emergency preparedness plans. The focus groups also highlighted facilitators to preparedness, team cohesion, engagement, and the presence of certain grants to help with funding as ways to combat health disparities and raise awareness for pediatric populations during emergencies. CONCLUSION: The results of the focus groups can effectively be utilized to assess the challenges emergency management and disaster medicine professionals experience. The results highlight the need to prioritize funding, communication, and addressing gaps in knowledge, gaps in technology, and a lack of emergency preparedness plans. The results can be used to explore different approaches to improve health disparities through awareness initiatives as a forefront priority for pediatric populations.