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At least 1,297 records · Page 72Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Experience of a Korean disaster medical assistance team in Sri Lanka after the South Asia tsunami.

On 26 December 2004, a huge tsunami struck the coasts of South Asian countries and it resulted in 29,729 deaths and 16,665 injuries in Sri Lanka. This study characterizes the epidemiology, clinical data and time course of the medical problems seen by a Korean disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) during its deployment in Sri Lanka, from 2 to 8 January 2005. The team consisting of 20 surgical and medical personnel began to provide care 7 days after tsunami in the southern part of Sri Lanka, the Matara and Hambantota districts. During this period, a total of 2,807 patients visited our field clinics with 3,186 chief complaints. Using the triage and refer system, we performed 3,231 clinical examinations and made 3,259 diagnoses. The majority of victims had medical problems (82.4%) rather than injuries (17.6%), and most conditions (92.1%) were mild enough to be discharged after simple management. There were also substantial needs of surgical managements even in the second week following the tsunami. Our study also suggests that effective triage system, self-sufficient preparedness, and close collaboration with local authorities may be the critical points for the foreign DMAT activity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

The World Trade Center disaster. Healing the unseen wounds.

1. After the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on February 26, 1993, hospitals were flooded with individuals who manifested not only medical problems, but also psychological trauma. 2. Various coping mechanisms were used by the disaster survivors. Some people were hysterical, while others were very quiet, almost catatonic, with blank affect and fixated posture. Some individuals, who remained strong during the ordeal, collapsed when they reached the hospital. 3. In attending the victims, nurses talked with them about the traumatic incident, the fear, and the angst--a cathartic process that helps people get better sooner. Such therapy is the key to healing unseen wounds.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

First aid in disasters.

If you are first on the scene of a disaster, approach safely and liaise with police and ambulance officers. Carry out triage, identifying those victims who need urgent treatment and those who do not--because they are not ill enough, too ill or dead. Establish priorities of treatment within the urgent group in the airway (A), breathing (B), circulation (C) sequence. Record assessment and treatment given.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Disasters, the media and doctors.

Disasters and mass casualty incidents are traumatic events that are followed by a predictable media response. Managing the media response appropriately can avoid problems in a hospital's security, command, control and communications structures and mitigate the stress of hospital staff attempting to deal with the incident.

Community-Institutional Relations↗
PubMed2004

How would military hospitals cope with a nuclear, biological, or chemical disaster?

In any nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) attack, it is clear that the hospitals may be overwhelmed with casualties. In these deliberate accidents, there will be an additional problem of contamination. Military hospitals must be prepared for NBC disasters with a detailed incident plan. Within this plan, decontamination facilities and shower systems are needed primarily to protect the hospital from self-contamination. Physical and collective protection measures of the staff should be taken into account, with evacuation routes under such an attack. Within this conjunction, the required equipment, including protective suits, detection means, drugs, antidotes, and vaccines, should be provided and stored properly. Qualified personnel should be assigned to the NBC first-aid and rescue team organized within the hospital, equipped, and trained according to such a possible task. Medical staff must be aware of the effects of the agents, and must be experienced in decontamination and first-aid to victims exposed to these agents. Therefore, this information must be put into practice by giving attack scenarios and responses to the hospital administration. It can be conclusively pointed out that military hospitals especially should be better prepared than any other civilian health unit to such attacks of weapons of mass destruction.

Biological Warfare↗
PubMed1992

Recovering from disaster: an ounce of prevention takes a ton of planning.

This article, reprinted from Connect: Journal of Departmental Computing at the University of Cincinnati, addresses the issue of computer failures and preventing or minimizing the effect of such disasters. Since so many radiology departments use radiology information systems and so many managers depend on the information stored in their personal computers, this valuable advice may enable you to take steps to prevent a "crisis" in your organization.

Computer Systems↗
PubMed1996

Train crash disasters and emergency plans of suburban hospitals in the New York City and Washington, DC areas: what went right; what could have been improved.

Two major train crashes in February--one in Northern New Jersey and the other in Silver Spring, MD, near Washington, DC--posed severe challenges to the disaster plans of area hospitals. The first crash involving two commuter trains near Secaucus, NJ, tested the effectiveness of emergency plans at the Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City, NJ, and the Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, Secaucus. The incident occurred at approximately 8:40 a.m. and resulted in three deaths and 162 injuries. The Silver Spring crash, which took place a week after the one in New Jersey, occurred in early evening and involved an Amtrak and a commuter train. It resulted in 11 deaths and 26 injuries. Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, was the primary caregiver. In this report, we'll provide details on how the incidents impacted on nearby hospitals and their security staffs; how challenges, anticipated and unanticipated, were met; and what conclusions were reached in follow-up critiques.

Accidents↗
PubMed1997

Planning for disaster recovery.

Planning for restoring information systems in the event of a disaster is rapidly changing and growing in importance. As health care organizations become more reliant on information technology, they're taking extra steps to safeguard their investments and to ensure reliable access to data.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Does number of beds reflect the surgical capability of hospitals in wartime and disaster? The use of a simulation technique at a national level.

INTRODUCTION: The raw number of hospital trauma beds and occupancy has been used to assess the surgical capability of hospitals in wartime and disaster situations. The goal of this study was to examine and offer a better tool to determine the load of casualties that a hospital would be able to absorb and treat effectively during these situations. METHODS: Simulation software was applied to various wartime scenarios. It assessed the usefulness of a computerized simulation of operating room (OR) function under loading of "standard wartime casualties." Comparison of the functioning of similar hospitals was undertaken in order to identify possible methods to optimize the care delivered. A "what-if" module was used to define the optimal way to absorb mass casualties within the known resources of a given healthcare system. Each hospital was tested under different loading of "standard casualties." Average waiting time for surgery was used as a marker of the constant decay in the standards of care with the increasing patient load. RESULTS: Different, unique patterns of strategies for optimizing waiting periods were identified. Not all trauma centers responded by shortening waiting time by diverting the lightly injured patients from them either before or after triage. The reaction to alternate days' shift was unexpected. The temporal course of matching a patient with a functional operating room was more indicative of a hospital's capability to absorb casualties requiring surgery than was the pre-set number of beds available in the hospital. RECOMMENDATIONS: The use of simulation techniques might be useful method to assess the nationwide surgical capability. This is a complex dilemma that cannot be predicted with trivial guessing, even when combined with previous experience of triaging. Analyzing the weak points and bottlenecks at a national level might help in creating preparedness protocols.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Assessing differences in chemical disaster proneness: the Community Chemical Hazard Vulnerability Inventory.

The increase in accidents with dangerous chemicals makes it incumbent upon community and regional planners to deal systematically with this problem. The first step invariably involves the assessment of the likelihood and type of incident which may impact a given area so that disasters may be averted or, at least, their effects mitigated. This paper presents one such assessment scheme, the Community Chemical Hazard Vulnerability Inventory (CCHVI). This instrument, aside from considering the type and volume of substances posing a threat to a designated area, considers the physical and human resources available, as well as the general state of readiness of the area (including such things as the interface of emergency-related organizations). The use of such vulnerability assessment instruments allows local emergency planners to identify particular dangers within their communities and permits regional planners to allocate funds for planning according to relative needs.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed1999

[Mental trauma in disasters as a factor in combined lesions].

In the presented article the authors have examined the role of some after-effects of a powerful explosion in a city. On their own experience of rendering medical assistance to the injured at the explosion in the city of Arzamas in 1988, they have come to a conclusion that mental traumas render a negative influence on the process of cutaneous wounds healing. The tensiometric, histologic, immunologic values of blood serum and increase of the cutaneous wounds bacterial dissemination have been accomplished in experimental investigations. The authors make a conclusion that the simultaneous effect of the mechanic and mental traumas under disaster conditions should be classified as combined injury.

Blast Injuries↗
PubMed1999

[Blood supply readiness in case of war or disasters].

The supply and use of blood during war or disaster require efficient cooperation between national and regional civilian authorities and blood banks as well as the military chain of command and medical units. Tasks and responsibilities are regulated by a directive issued by the Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services, specifying that during crises, civilian blood banks will be ordered to provide blood to military units. Based upon information obtained by a questionnaire survey, blood banks have an adequate capacity even if the normal power supply or computerised systems fail temporarily. However, plans are presently lacking for the organisation and operation of the civilian blood supply during a crisis requiring cooperation with military units. Key roles and responsibilities for personnel on the civilian side must be defined. Normal and alternative routes of communication must be established and tested regularly.

Blood Banks↗
PubMed1999

Kankakee, IL: two hospitals; a middle-of-the-night train crash; 114 injured--how their disaster plans played out.

The emergency disaster plans of two Illinois hospitals were recently put to the test after an Amtrak train crash that occurred on the night of March 15 when a passenger train traveling from Chicago to New Orleans collided with a semi-trailer truck, causing the train to derail about 50 miles south of Chicago in the city of Bourbonnais, IL. The injured were taken to Riverside Medical Center and Provena St. Mary's Hospital, Kankakee, IL--a city of 30,000. Out of the 216 passengers on Amtrak's City of New Orleans, 11 people, all located in the sleeper car, were killed and 114 were injured. The accident was the largest that the two area hospitals had ever dealt with. Here's how they handled it.

Communication↗
PubMed2000

Responding to a natural disaster with service learning.

This article describes a service learning experience at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Responding to a nearby natural disaster, the curriculum was modified to allow 71 second-year medical students to provide needed aid to affected communities and also fulfill learning objectives important to their training. The description and the lessons learned provide an example of how service learning experiences can be implemented to enrich a curriculum.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prior planning to avoid responders becoming "victims" during disasters.

Prior planning to meet the physical and mental needs of medical and emergency services responder, is a practical measure to reduce staff stress. This has the potential to improve both the operational efficiency of a disaster response and reduce the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorders in responders. Research is needed to define which interventions provide the greatest benefits to local responders.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

Disaster planning and resource allocation in health services.

The increasing prevalence of natural disasters, environmental tragedies, and depraved human behavior has generated excessive costs in both human and material resources at a time when cost-efficiency and control is continually emphasized by managed care contracts, business, and government agencies. As a result, increasing pressure has been placed on hospital material managers to do more with less, while also providing the necessary resources to respond efficiently and effectively during an emergency. A successful comprehensive, risk-based emergency management program of preparedness, response, and recovery will reduce the loss of life and resources.

Cooperative Behavior↗
PubMed1999

Corporate response to disasters and other traumas.

Crisis intervention programs are becoming the standard of care in occupational environments such as law enforcement, fire suppression, emergency medicine, and rescue services, which are known to be at high risk for psychological morbidity. An area which is frequently overlooked, however, is the application of crisis intervention programs to businesses and other corporate environments. This paper describes the development and application of crisis intervention principles into a comprehensive psychosocial crisis management for the corporate setting immediately following disasters and other traumatic events. The approach used reinforces emergency responders' capacities of synthesis and integration as a systemically-oriented acute preventive intervention.

Crisis Intervention↗