American journal of disaster medicine
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In-hospital triage is the key factor for successful management of an overwhelming number of patients in lack of treatment capacity. The main goal of in-hospital triage is to identify casualties with life-threatening injuries and to allocate immediate medical aid. For the first time, we evaluate the quality of in-hospital triage in the German capital Berlin. ⋯ The accuracy of in-hospital triage is low (61 percent). Predominately, the problem of overtriage (24 percent) due to insufficient triage training in contrast to undertriage (16 percent) occurs. The diagnostic triage adjuncts, ultrasound and re-triage, should be routinely used to lower the rate of undetected life threat in mass casualty incidents. Furthermore, a standardized training program and triage algorithm for in-hospital triage should be established.
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Describe the prevalence of pediatric casualties in disaster drills by community hospitals and determine if there is an association between the use of pediatric casualties in disaster drills and the proximity of a community hospital to a tertiary children's hospital. ⋯ The majority of community hospitals do not incorporate children into their disaster drills, and the closer a community hospital is to a tertiary children's hospital, the less likely it is to include children in its drills. Focused effort and additional resources should be directed toward preparing community hospitals to care for children in the event of a disaster.
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To describe, innovate, recommend, and foster the implementation of point-of-care (POC) testing in disaster caches to enhance crisis standards of care and to improve triage, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and management of victims and volunteers in complex emergencies and disasters. ⋯ Innovations in POC technologies can improve response preparedness with enhanced diagnostic capabilities. Several innovations, such as the i-STAT® Wireless, OraQuick ADVANCE® HIV-1/2, VereTrop™ Lab-on-a-Chip, and new compact hematology analyzers will improve test clusters that facilitate evidence-based decision making and crisis standards of care during US national disaster responses. Additionally, strategic resources and operator training should be globally harmonized to improve the efficiency of international responses.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Trauma-Focused Early Intensive Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (TF-EICBI) in children and adolescent survivors of suicide bombing attacks (SBAs). A preliminary study.
To describe and evaluate the impact of an early intervention (Trauma-Focused Early Intensive Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, TF-EICBI) in children and adolescents who were victims of suicide bombing attacks (SBAs) in Israel. ⋯ Intervention was effective in preventing and lowering mental morbidity of children and adolescents after SBAs.
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Syrian revolution that began on March 15, 2011 represents not only a political crisis but also a humanitarian one where many relief attempts for saving civil injured were tried. ⋯ Setting up a field hospital in such an area with unsafe conditions needs good communication with medical and relief organizations in the site of crisis, selection of a location as near as possible to the Turkish border, developing a convenient triaging plan, and training nonmedical volunteers to do simple tasks.