Prehospital and disaster medicine
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An understanding of disaster medicine and the health care system during mass-casualty events is vital to a successful disaster response, and has been recommended as an integral part of the medical curriculum by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). It has been documented that medical students do not believe that they have received adequate training for responding to disasters. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the inclusion of disaster medicine in the required course work of medical students at AAMC schools in the United States, and to identify the content areas addressed. ⋯ Only a small percentage of US medical schools currently include disaster medicine in their core curriculum, and even fewer medical schools have incorporated or adopted competency-based training within their disaster medicine lecture topics and curricula.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Oct 2012
Assessing EMS scope of practice for utility and risk: the New Mexico EMS Interventions Assessment Project, Phase One results.
Few emergency medical services (EMS) interventions in New Mexico have been assessed for efficacy, potential harm, or potential benefit. There is concern that many interventions added over the years may be outdated, harmful, or ineffective in the EMS setting. A formal process for reviewing the state EMS scope of practice using literature review and expert consensus is discussed. In Phase One of the project, interventions in the New Mexico EMS scope of practice were prioritized for further review by surveying a national cadre of EMS experts to evaluate EMS interventions using a utilitarian harm/benefit metric. ⋯ The New Mexico EMS Interventions Project offers a novel model for assessing a prehospital scope of practice.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Oct 2012
Hospital in the field: prehospital management of GHB intoxication by medical assistance teams.
Recreational use of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is increasingly common at mass-gathering dance events in Australia. Overdose often occurs in clusters, and places a significant burden on the surrounding health care infrastructure. ⋯ The deployment of medical teams at dance events and music festivals successfully managed the majority of GHB intoxications onsite and avoided acute care ambulance transfer and emergency department attendance.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Oct 2012
Disaster metrics: quantitative estimation of the number of ambulances required in trauma-related multiple casualty events.
Estimating the number of ambulances needed in trauma-related Multiple Casualty Events (MCEs) is a challenging task. ⋯ A new quantitative model for estimation of the number of ambulances needed during the prehospital response in trauma-related multiple casualty events has been proposed. Prospective studies of this model are needed to examine its validity and applicability.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Oct 2012
Disaster preparedness in an Australian urban trauma center: staff knowledge and perceptions.
A substantial barrier to improving disaster preparedness in Australia is a lack of prescriptive national guidelines based on individual hospital capabilities. A recent literature review revealed that only one Australian hospital has published data regarding its current preparedness level. ⋯ Australian hospital staff are under-prepared to respond to a disaster because of a lack of education, insufficient simulation exercises, and limited disaster experience. The absence of specific national standards and guidelines through which individual hospitals can develop their capabilities further compounds the poverty in preparedness.