Journal of travel medicine
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Review
Effectiveness and Use of Avalanche Airbags in Mortality Reduction among Winter-Recreationists.
The number of backcountry skiers and snowboarder surged in the last years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as ski resorts shut down. Inevitably, this led to an increase in avalanche-related injuries and death. As avalanche rescue device, avalanche airbags are increasingly becoming part of the standard winter mountaineering equipment. This study provides a review of the available data and an updated perspective on avalanche airbags, discussing their function and efficacy to reduce mortality and their limitations. ⋯ Avalanche airbags seem to be an important tool in reducing mortality in the backcountry expeditions. However, more research and standardized data collection are needed to fill the knowledge gap, and mountain communities should promote adequate education of winter-recreationists on how to prevent and react to an avalanche and on the correct use of airbags in combination with already available tools such as transceivers, probes and shovels; and manufacturing companies should ensure higher efficacy of the survival avalanche equipment for better prevention of burial, asphyxia and trauma.
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Many travellers do not receive vaccines pre-travel. Tools such as vaccine decision aids could support informed vaccine decision-making. We aimed to characterise Australians' pre-travel vaccine attitudes, behaviours and information needs and examine the role for decision aids in travel medicine. ⋯ Health professionals play an important role in supporting pre-travel vaccine decision-making. However, our findings indicate that reliable, accurate and engaging digital resources, such as decision aids, could support travellers to make informed pre-travel vaccine decisions.