Rehabilitation in Emergency Medical Teams
Overview
The purpose of the Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative is to improve the timeliness and quality of health services provided by national and international emergency medical teams and enhance the capacity of national health systems in leading the activation and coordination of this response in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, outbreak and/or other emergency.
EMTs are an important part of the global health workforce and have a specific role. Any doctor, nurse or rehabilitation professional coming from another country to practice health care in an emergency needs to come as a member of a team. That team must have training, quality, equipment and supplies so it can respond with success rather impose a burden on the national system. EMTs must strive for self-sufficiency, meet the minimum standards for EMTs, and possess the quality of care that is appropriate for the context.
Rehabilitation has been a key consideration of the Emergency Medical Team initiative since its inception. This has been strengthened with the publication of detailed Minimum Technical Standards and Recommendations for Rehabilitation, and the continued integration of rehabilitation standards across all aspects of clinical care in EMTs, including burns, spinal cord injury and outbreak.
Rehabilitation is now considered as an essential component of all type 2 and 3 EMTs, and is desirable in type 1 teams. In addition to this, a number of countries and nongovernmental organizations have developed specialist rehabilitation capabilities that can support national responses or embed into other emergency medical teams.
The earthquake response in Nepal in 2015 and learning from the Mosul response in 2016/2017 both highlighted the importance of early dedicated rehabilitation coordination in any response, and working with the EMT initiative and other WHO teams we will also continue to strengthen national, regional and global capacity to support this.
Please visit the WHO Emergency Medical Team website here for more information.
Publications
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The EMT Initiative has launched a global Community of Practice for all rehabilitation professionals who are members of EMTs, with 6 virtual events each year. You can sign up for the Community of Practice here.
Rehabilitation focal points that represent their EMT can also sign up to a network of rehabilitation leads here. This group meets twice yearly, and is focused on building connections, sharing learning and strengthening collaborations between teams.