Steven Selbst, MD: 'We have to be ready' to respond, help in mass shooting situations

Steven Selbst, MD, joined Contemporary Pediatrics at the 2024 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition to discuss how in today's world, health care professionals, including pediatricians need to be ready to help if a mass shooting takes place in their respective city.

Selbst explains drills are taking place more frequently to prepare for an influx of patients in the event of a mass shooting, and calls for all health care providers to be ready to assist at any given time.

Selbst is a professor of Pediatrics at Nemours Children’s Health inWilmington, Delaware and Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

Steven Selbst, MD:

For many years, emergency departments have practiced how to handle disasters in their setting. The reality is, in many parts of the country, in particular where I practice, in Wilmington, Delaware, we're unlikely to have a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake, where you are more likely to have a mass shooting, which can happen anywhere in the United States. It's unfortunate now that emergency departments need to prepare for disasters like that, and physicians everywhere need to prepare... They may need to come in, may need to protect their families. [They should] have a go bag of supplies if they're called in from home to come to the hospital in an emergency. Pediatricians in the community have a role here. If they have privileges at the hospital, they may be called in to help out in some situations, but certainly they can help in reunification of children. They can help with children who have special needs, and managing those children during a disaster. They can certainly help with community resources and help families manage through all kinds of disasters, but in particular, a mass shooting. We have to be ready, and hopefully there'll be some action to reduce gun violence in the United States, but at this point, we certainly have to be ready for that. It is unfortunate that emergency departments have to practice drills for that, rather than preparing for natural disasters.

Contemporary Pediatrics:

Are drills taking place in certain areas of the country?
Selbst:

Many hospitals are doing this., but I think the recommendation is more of us need to focus on on this particular kind of disaster.