Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Dec 2014
Experience from the Great East Japan Earthquake response as the basis for revising the Japanese Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) training program.
The objective of this study was to draft a new Japanese Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) training program based on the responses to the Great East Japan Earthquake. ⋯ The revised DMAT training program will provide practical training better suited to the present circumstances in Japan.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Dec 2014
Perceptions of the utility and acceptability of an emergency child minding service for health staff.
Tropical Cyclone Yasi in North Queensland activated the disaster management plans at The Townsville Hospital, including the establishment of an emergency child minding service to facilitate the return of staff to work. ⋯ The provision of an emergency child minding service facilitated the return to work of health care staff immediately after Tropical Cyclone Yasi. More research is needed to understand the effect disaster type has on the uptake of a child minding service.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Oct 2014
Operation of emergency operating centers during mass casualty incidents in taiwan: a disaster management perspective.
On April 27, 2011, a train derailed and crashed in Taiwan, causing a mass casualty incident (MCI) that was similar to a previous event and with similar consequences. In both disasters, the emergency operating centers (EOCs) could not effectively integrate associated agencies to deal with the incident. The coordination and utilization of resources were inefficient, which caused difficulty in command structure operation and casualty evacuation. ⋯ To improve the response to MCIs, the EMCL needs to be amended to give EOCs the lead during disasters; use feedback from the recovery phase to improve future disaster management and operation coordination; and establish an information-sharing platform across agencies to address all aspects of relief work.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-6).
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Aug 2014
Accuracy of initial critical care triage decisions in blast versus non-blast trauma.
We investigated the accuracy of initial critical care triage in blast-injured versus non-blast-injured trauma patients, focusing on those inappropriately triaged to the intensive care unit (ICU) for brief (<16 h) stays. ⋯ Triage officers do a better job sending to the ICU only those patients who require initial intensive care in the non-blast setting, though this is obscured by a much greater overall need for ICU-level care in the blast setting. Implementing triage protocols in the blast setting may help reduce the number of patients sent initially to the ICU for brief periods, thus increasing the availability of this resource.