American journal of disaster medicine
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Health professional preparedness is a key element of disaster response; overall there is a need for increased disaster medicine training worldwide. The objective of this study was to design and develop a curriculum in community-based disaster medicine for Saudi Arabian medical undergraduates. ⋯ The curriculum is designed to promote learning in disaster medicine. Given the paucity of disaster medicine educators in the region, student graduates of this program would be able to improve disaster preparedness in Saudi Arabia by launching their own community-based disaster preparedness initiatives. The program could also be adapted for use throughout the Middle East.
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Contemporary disasters, like the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, have piqued the interest of medical students in disaster preparedness. The topic is also a requirement of undergraduate medical education.(1) Yet current literature suggests that disaster preparedness education is lacking. Our objective was to pilot a curriculum to augment medical students' disaster preparedness education by marshalling local resources to provide practical hands-on experiences. ⋯ This pilot curriculum was designed to capitalize on practical hands-on training opportunities for our medical students, including participation in a disaster exercise and a mass-gathering event. These opportunities provided effective and engaging disaster preparedness education.
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Blast injuries characteristics and outcomes are not well described in urban civilian settings. ⋯ Blasts in a civilian setting result in a wide range of injuries. Facial injuries were most common in our setting with close associations between injuries of different organ systems. Identified predictors of hospital admission can help guide disposition decision for blast victims in the ED.
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Disaster preparedness training has a small but growing part in medical education. Various strategies have been used to simulate disaster scenarios to safely provide such training. However, a modality to compare their effectiveness is lacking. The authors propose the use of checklists, which have been a standard in aviation safety for decades. ⋯ In the checklist use during a tabletop disaster simulation, the authors have demonstrated that the checklist allows trainees to receive near immediate feedback. This training exercise provided them an opportunity to explore their own preparedness for a disaster scenario in a low-stress environment and allows for evaluation of such preparedness in a safe environment.
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Compare the pharmacokinetics of atropine administered via the intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM), and intraosseous (IO) routes in a normovolemic and hypovolemic swine model. ⋯ The IO route is an effective method of administering atropine and is comparable to the IV route even under conditions of significant hemorrhage. Therapeutic levels of atropine may be delayed and possibly difficult to obtain via IM injection in the presence of hypovolemic shock.