The Western journal of medicine
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Hospital-based facilities providing emergency care in the state of Washington were surveyed to determine their level of preparedness for hazardous materials incidents including the treatment of contaminated patients. Responses to a faxed questionnaire were received from 95 (94%) of the 101 emergency care facilities in Washington State. Only 42 (44%) of the facilities reported the ability to receive any chemically exposed patient. ⋯ Twelve (13%) facilities had evacuated their emergency department or other part of the hospital for contamination incidents in the past 5 years. Despite the frequent occurrence of hazardous materials incidents, most emergency care facilities in Washington State are not fully prepared to handle contaminated patients and chemical spills. This may have important implications for the care of persons with exposure to hazardous materials and for implementing Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.
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To assess the willingness of physicians and nurses with training in basic cardiac life support to provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in both hospital and out-of-hospital settings, we surveyed all attendees at a monthly advanced life support course over a 1-year period. Of 622 attendees, 379 (61%) responded to our survey describing a variety of cardiac arrest scenarios. Less than half of the participants surveyed were willing to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on an unknown adult, male or female, who had collapsed in a supermarket. ⋯ A third of the group has performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation previously. Although an increased percentage of this subgroup was willing to provide mouth-to-mouth in all adult hospital scenarios, experienced providers of mouth-to-mouth wanted to receive mouth-to-mouth resuscitation less frequently (75%) than inexperienced providers (84%) (P = 0.02). The self-reported willingness to provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is influenced by patient characteristics; as the level of familiarity with the victim decreased, so did the willingness of the health care professional to do mouth-to-mouth.