Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Mass-gathering Events: The Public Health Challenge of the Kumbh Mela 2013.
Mass-gathering (MG) events pose challenges to the most adept of public health practitioners in ensuring the health safety of the population. These MGs can be for sporting events, musical festivals, or more commonly, have religious undertones. The Kumbh Mela 2013 at Allahabad, India may have been the largest gathering of humanity in history with nearly 120 million pilgrims having thronged the venue. ⋯ There having been no outbreaks of disease is vindication of the steps undertaken in planning and preparedness, notwithstanding obvious limitations of unsanitary behaviors and traditional beliefs of those attending the festival. The evident flaw on post-event analyses was the failure to cater adequately for environmental mopping-up operations after the festival. Besides, a system of real-time monitoring of disease and morbidity patterns, harnessing low cost technology alternatives, should be planned for at all such future events.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Research and Evaluations of the Health Aspects of Disasters, Part V: Epidemiological Disaster Research.
Studies of the health aspect of disasters focus either on the epidemiology of disasters to define the causes and the progression from a hazard to a disaster, or the evaluations of interventions provided during any phase of a disaster. Epidemiological disaster research studies are undertaken for the purposes of: (1) understanding the mechanisms by which hazards evolve into a disaster; (2) determining ways to mitigate the risk(s) that a specific hazard will progress into a disaster; (3) predicting the likely damages and needs of the population-at-risk for an event; and (4) identifying potential measures to increase the resilience of a community to future events. Epidemiological disaster research utilizes the Conceptual, Temporal, and Societal Frameworks to define what occurs when a hazard manifests as an event that causes a disaster. ⋯ Birnbaum ML , Daily EK , O'Rourke AP. Research and evaluations of the health aspects of disasters, part V: epidemiological disaster research. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(6):648-656.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Case ReportsPotential Exposure to Ebola Virus from Body Fluids due to Ambulance Compartment Permeability in Sierra Leone.
Prehospital care, including patient transport, is integral in the patient care process during the Ebola response. Transporting ill persons from the community to Ebola care facilities can stop community spread. Vehicles used for patient transport in infectious disease outbreaks should be evaluated for adequate infection prevention and control. ⋯ Waterproof separation between the patient compartment and driver cabin may be essential for patient transport vehicles in infectious disease outbreaks, especially when chlorine sprayers are used for decontamination or in resource-limited settings where cleaning supplies may be limited.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Profile of Patients Hospitalized through the Emergency Room to the Medicine Ward and their Short-term Outcome at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi.
With an increasing number of sicker patients, limited hospital beds, and an emphasis on day care, the profile of patients hospitalized to medicine wards has undergone a radical re-definition. The increasing share of patients hospitalized through the emergency department for acute care to medicine wards has left little space for hospitalization through the outpatient department (OPD). There are some global data available on the profile of patients presenting to the emergency rooms (ERs) and their subsequent outcome. Data from developing countries, especially India, in this regard are lacking. ⋯ Of the 1,547 patients who needed urgent hospitalization, 248 (16%) died within the first week, one-half of them within the first 24 hours. An advanced age, abnormal GCS score, low MMSE score, increased systolic BP, leukocytosis, acidosis, and uremia were found to be associated with a fatal outcome. Therefore, nearly one-half of the patients who would have a fatal short-term outcome were likely to do so within the first 24 hours, making the first day of presentation "the golden day" period.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Hospital Nurses' Competencies in Disaster Situations: A Qualitative Study in the South of Brazil.
Introduction Hospital nurses play a key role in the aftermath of the occurrence of disasters and need specific competencies to work in these situations. From a global perspective, few models exist that focus on disaster nursing. ⋯ The competencies identified in this study can contribute to the education and practice of nurses in the hospital ambience, strengthening its capacity to face disaster situations.