Disaster medical assistance teams.

Five medical care functions are essential in disaster medical care--field rescue and first aid, casualty clearing, medical staging, field surgical intervention, and definitive care. Each of these functions requires substantial augmentation in response to disaster. Three functions, clearing, staging, and field surgical care, are complex functions requiring organized and skilled disaster medical units. We describe two kinds of disaster medical units designed to meet these needs. One unit is designed for casualty clearing and medical staging, the other for field surgical services. We describe how they can be created and used as part of a National Disaster Medical System.