Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Sep 2006
Health aspects of disaster preparedness and response. Report from a regional meeting of countries of South East Asia; Bangkok, Thailand, 21-23 November 2005.
This Supplement is a Report of the Conference convened by the South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Conference was a follow-up to the WHO Conference of May 2005 in Phuket, Thailand on the Earthquake and Tsunami of 26 December 2004. The invitational meeting brought together representatives of 11 countries impacted by the events. The goal of the Conference was to produce a plan of action that meets the specific needs of the countries and ensure that the countries of the Region will be better equipped to cope with any future event. ⋯ The Conference delivered an important set of benchmarks and strategies that, when implemented, will facilitate the countries and the communities within them reaching better levels of preparedness and response to future events. Attaining the benchmarks will decrease the number of lives lost and minimize the pain and suffering associated with such events.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Sep 2006
Reactions to cold exposure emphasize the need for weather protection in prehospital care: an experimental study.
Exposure to cold temperature is a serious but often neglected problem in prehospital care. It not only is an uncomfortable, subjective experience, but it also can cause severe disturbances in vital functions, gradually leading to hypothermia. ⋯ Cold exposure provoked immediate protective vasoconstriction in the peripheral compartment, which caused linear decreases of local skin temperatures. This probably was triggered from the unprotected face and upper respiratory areas.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Sep 2006
Disaster healthcare system management and crisis intervention leadership in Thailand--lessons learned from the 2004 Tsunami disaster.
Quarantelli established criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of disaster management. ⋯ In order to increase effectiveness, disaster management response should focus on: (1) the flow of information; (2) overall coordination; and (3) leadership.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2006
Comparative StudyParamedic student performance: comparison of online with on-campus lecture delivery methods.
Colleges and universities are experiencing increasing demand for online courses in many healthcare disciplines, including emergency medical services (EMS). Development and implementation of online paramedic courses with the quality of education experienced in the traditional classroom setting is essential in order to maintain the integrity of the educational process. Currently, there is conflicting evidence of whether a significant difference exists in student performance between online and traditional nursing and allied health courses. However, there are no published investigations of the effectiveness of online learning by paramedic students. ⋯ Distance learning technology appears to be an effective mechanism for extending didactic paramedic education off-campus, and may be beneficial particularly to areas that lack paramedic training programs or adequate numbers of qualified instructors.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2006
What a disaster?! Assessing utility of simulated disaster exercise and educational process for improving hospital preparedness.
Recent events have brought disaster medicine into the public focus. Both the government and communities expect hospitals to be prepared to cope with all types of emergencies. Disaster simulations are the traditional method of testing hospital disaster plans, but a recent, comprehensive, literature review failed to find any substantial scientific data proving the benefit of these resource- and time-consuming exercises. ⋯ The disaster exercise and educational process had the greatest benefit for individuals and departments involved directly. The intervention also prompted enterprise-wide review, and an upgrade of disaster plans at departmental levels. Pre-intervention knowledge scores were poor. Post-intervention knowledge base remained suboptimal, despite a statistically significant improvement. This study supports the widely held belief that disaster simulation is a worthwhile exercise, but more must be done. More time and resources must be dedicated to the increasingly important field of hospital disaster preparedness.