Chronic diseases now account for 86% of health care spending, and more than half of Americans live with a chronic illness, creating an epidemic. The rising incidence of chronic illness was not recognized or sufficiently addressed by the medical community or its leaders. As a result, a health-care crisis took place, with poor access and quality of service, as well as exorbitant expenses. With over half of Americans living with a chronic illness, chronic diseases now account for 86% of health care spending, causing an epidemic. The medical community and its leaders failed to acknowledge or adequately address the growing prevalence of chronic illness. As a result, a health-care crisis took place, with poor access and quality of service, as well as exorbitant expenses. They found that as a result, patient satisfaction rose, healthcare costs decreased, and patients' health outcomes improved. There was a significant overlap between the health care crisis and the rise of an epidemic of chronic diseases. Although the epidemic was not the cause of the crisis, it did play a significant part. The present challenge for the medical community and its leaders is to create a medical practice and a health care system that better meet the needs of those with chronic illnesses while simultaneously lowering the health care crisis. The importance of emergency preparedness plans for chronic conditions has been brought to light by recent crises, especially those that have occurred in wealthy nations. Many of the patients who survived had chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and chronic respiratory diseases, which deteriorated due to stress from the disaster, care withdrawal, or both. For some of these patients, the exacerbations were lethal. In this paper, we review experiences from earlier disasters in developed nations and give guidelines for chronically sick patients' disaster preparedness. Based on lessons learned from recent disasters, numerous recommendations have been made that provide essential and useful protocols for managing chronic illness in emergency care.
Key words: chronic disease, epidemic, health-care, preparedness, disasters, emergency care.
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