Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2007
Staff procedure skills in management groups during exercises in disaster medicine.
In stressful situations such as the management of major incidents and disasters, the ability to work in a structured way is important. Medical management groups initially are formed by personnel from different operations that are on-call when the incident or disaster occurs. ⋯ Staff procedure skills can be measured during simulations exercises. A logging system may lead to enhancing areas requiring improvement.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2007
Mission failure: emergency medical services response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive events.
Only 4% of the United States Homeland Security funding for public safety terrorism preparedness is allotted to emergency medical services (EMS), despite the primary threat from a mass-terrorism chemical weapons attack (MTCWA) being personal injury. This study examines the preparedness of the EMS to respond to, treat, and transport victims of such attacks. ⋯ Results indicate that EMS responders are not prepared to safely respond to MTCWAs, which may result in a significant loss of life of victims and responders.