Prehospital and disaster medicine
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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
Prehospital Airway Management in Emergency and Trauma Patients: A Cross-sectional Study of Ambulance Service Providers and Staff in a Low- and Middle-income Country.
Prehospital airway management (AM) is the first priority in the care of emergency and trauma victims as it has shown to improve survival in these patients. ⋯ Even though ambulances are equipped with basic equipment, due to lack of trained staff, these ambulances only serve the mere purpose of transportation. There is a need to train ambulance staff and increase ambulance to staff ratio to improve prehospital AM and patient survival.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Observational StudyEmergency Care Capabilities in North East Haiti: A Cross-sectional Observational Study.
The North East Department is a resource-limited region of Haiti. Health care is provided by hospitals and community clinics, with no formal Emergency Medical System and undefined emergency services. As a paucity of information exists on available emergency services in the North East Department of Haiti, the objective of this study was to assess systematically the existing emergency care resources in the region. ⋯ Deficits in the supply of emergency equipment and limited protocols for inter-facility transfers exist in North East Department of Haiti. These essential areas represent appropriate targets for interventions aimed at improving access to emergency care within the North East region of Haiti.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Dec 2015
Effect of First Aid Education on First Aid Knowledge and Skills of Commercial Drivers in South West Nigeria.
Prompt prehospital care is essential for improving outcomes of road crash victims; however, this service is sub-optimal in developing countries because Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are not readily available. Training of lay responders in first aid has been suggested as a means of filling this gap in settings with inadequate EMS. This study was conducted to determine the effect of first aid training on the first aid knowledge and skills of commercial drivers. ⋯ The training led to significant improvement in first aid knowledge and skills of intervention drivers. This confirms that lay responders can be trained in provision of first aid. The slight drop in skills scores, which occurred three months post-intervention, highlights the need for periodic refresher trainings to be conducted for the drivers in order to maintain the knowledge and skills acquired.
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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.