American journal of disaster medicine
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Lessons from the "Clean Baby 2007" pediatric decontamination drill.
Children have unique needs and are at risk of being exposed to hazardous materials and necessitating decontamination. A drill was conducted to identify problems that arise in the decontamination of children and develop recommendations for effective age appropriate decontamination. ⋯ This drill identified several key areas of concern; including the need to maintain children's warmth by using heaters and sufficient body coverings and to increase staffing to better focus on age-specific requirements such as psychosocial needs that included anxiety, modesty, and keeping families together. These needs may compromise effective decontamination. Pediatric decontamination protocols and interventions addressing all these concerns should be further studied and implemented.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Changes needed in the care for sheltered persons: a multistate analysis from Hurricane Katrina.
Following Hurricane Katrina, nearly 1,400 evacuation shelters were opened in 27 states across the nation to accommodate the more than 450,000 evacuees from the gulf region. The levee breaks in New Orleans and storm surge in Mississippi brought about significant morbidity and mortality, ultimately killing more than 1,300 people. The purpose of this study was to summarize the health needs of approximately 30,000 displaced persons who resided in shelters in eight states, including prescription medication needs, dispersement of durable medical equipment, and referrals for further care. ⋯ Hurricane Katrina illustrated the need to strengthen the healthcare planning and response in regard to sheltered persons with a particular focus on primary and preventive care services. This study has reemphasized the need for primary medical care and pharmaceuticals in sheltered persons and shown new data regarding the dispersement of durable medical equipment and the frequent need for healthcare beyond the shelter setting as evidenced by referrals.
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Multicenter Study
Violence-related mortality and morbidity of humanitarian workers.
(1) To determine the rate of violence-related deaths, medical evacuations, and hospitalizations occurring to national and expatriate staff of participating humanitarian organizations; (2) to describe the distribution of all-cause and cause-specific mortality and morbidity of humanitarian workers with regard to possible risk factors. ⋯ Aid worker deaths in this group were more frequently caused by intentional violence than either accidents or coincidental illness. The rate of six intentional violence events per 10,000 person-years can be used as a baseline by which to track changes in risk over time.
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Multicenter Study
Ready, aye ready? Support mechanisms for healthcare workers in emergency planning: a critical gap analysis of three hospital emergency plans.
In response to the 2003 global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the threat of pandemic influenza, Canadian hospitals have been actively developing and revising their emergency plans. Healthcare workers are a particularly vulnerable group at risk of occupational exposure during infectious disease outbreaks, as seen during SARS and as documented/reported in the recent National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses (Statistics Canada, 2006). Approximately one third of Canadian nurses identified job strain and poor health, related to their work environment. Three years after SARS, this article presents a critical analysis of the gaps of three hospital pandemic influenza plans in the context of established organizational supports for healthcare workers. ⋯ Since the 2003 SARS outbreak, hospitals have invested in pandemic planning, as evidenced by the comprehensive plans examined here. Organizational support mechanisms for healthcare workers were included in these hospital plans; however, the gaps identified here may have serious implications for employee health and safety, and overall response during a large scale infectious disease outbreak. The authors provide a number of recommendations for consideration in infectious disease pandemic plan development to better support the healthcare workers in their roles as first responders.