CJEM Articles: disaster medicine
Displaying 1-3 of 3 results
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July
2011
13
4
Adam Lund, Samuel J. Gutman, Sheila A. Turris
Background: We explore the health care literature and draw on two decades of experience in the provision of medical care at mass gatherings and special events to illustrate the complementary aspects of mass gathering medical support and disaster medicine. Most communities have occasions during which large numbers of people assemble in public or private spaces for the purpose of celebrating or participating in musical, sporting, cultural, religious, political, and other events. Collectively, these events are referred to as mass gatherings. The planning, preparation, and delivery of health-related services at mass gatherings are understood to be within the discipline of emergency medicine. As well, we note that owing to international events in recent years, there has been a heightened awareness of and interest in disaster medicine and the level of community preparedness for disasters. We propose that a synergy exists between mass gathering medicine and disaster medicine.
Method: Literature review and comparative analysis.
Results: Many aspects of the provision of medical support for mass gathering events overlap with the skill set and expertise required to plan and implement a successful medical response to a natural disaster, terrorist incident, or other form of disaster.
Conclusion: There are several practical opportunities to link the two fields in a proactive manner. These opportunities should be pursued as a way to improve the level of disaster preparedness at the municipal, provincial, and national levels. -
January
2010
12
1
F. Della Corte, J.M. Franc-Law, L. Ragazzoni, P.L. Ingrassia
Objective: Training in practical aspects of disaster medicine is often impossible, and simulation may offer an educational opportunity superior to traditional didactic methods. We sought to determine whether exposure to an electronic simulation tool would improve the ability of medical students to manage a simulated disaster. Methods: We stratified 22 students by year of education and randomly assigned 50% from each category to form the intervention group, with the remaining 50% forming the control group. Both groups received the same didactic training sessions. The intervention group received additional disaster medicine training on a patient simulator (disastermed.ca), and the control group spent equal time on the simulator in a nondisaster setting. We compared markers of patient flow during a simulated disaster, including mean differences in time and number of patients to reach triage, bed assignment, patient assessment and disposition. In addition, we compared triage accuracy and scores on a structured command and control instrument. We collected data on the students' evaluations of the course for secondary purposes. Results: Participants in the intervention group triaged their patients more quickly than participants in the control group (mean difference 43 s, 99.5% confidence interval [CI] 12 to 75 s). The score of performance indicators on a standardized scale was also significantly higher in the intervention group (18/18) when compared with the control group (8/18) (p < 0.001). All students indicated that they preferred the simulation based curriculum to a lecture based curriculum. When asked to rate the exercise overall, both groups gave a median score of 8 on a 10 point modified Likert scale. Conclusion: Participation in an electronic disaster simulation using the disastermed.ca software package appears to increase the speed at which medical students triage simulated patients and increase their score on a structured command and control performance indicator instrument. Participants indicated that the simulation based curriculum in disaster medicine is preferable to a lecture based curriculum. Overall student satisfaction with the simulation based curriculum was high.
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March
2002
4
2
Anna-Maria Carvalho, Carolyn Rosenczweig, Marie-Elaine Delvin, Raghu Venugopal, Sujit Sivarman
