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Fredrick T. Sherman, MD, MSc
Huntington, NY

JAMA. 1985;253(10):1390-1391.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

In assessing the medical resources in the United States after a massive nuclear attack, Abrams¹ neglects the nursing home. My analysis of the additional beds and personnel in nursing homes shows how the total number of available beds (hospital plus nursing home) in the postattack period is doubled and new options for subacute, long-term, and rehabilitative care of casualties are made available (Table).

Using the same death and incapacitation rates and urban locations as Abrams and excluding beds allocated for psychiatric patients, there will be more beds in nursing homes in the postattack period than in short- and long-stay hospitals (283,841 v 273,000).² This estimate for available nursing home beds is conservative for the following reasons. (1) Most nursing homes have been built in the past 20 years and are probably sounder structurally than older hospitals. (2) Most nursing homes are one or two stories, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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