Preparing for a mass casualty event starts long before the event. Being able to provide care during an event requires collecting information about processes, equipment, supplies, and personnel to anticipate different situations. Planning should include an impact analysis to identify and prioritize critical services that need to be maintained. Impact analysis is carried out in concert with the e...

Modern war wounds are complex and primarily involve extremities. They require multiple operative interventions to achieve wound closure and begin rehabilitation. Current assessment of the suitability of surgical wound closure is based upon subjective methods coupled with a semiquantitative determination of the wound bacterial burden. Measurement of the systemic and local response to injury usin...

Corresponding Author: Colonel TJ Hodgetts QHP Honorary Professor of Emergency Medicine Academic Department of Military Emergency Medicine Institute of Research and Development, Vincent Drive, Birmingham B15 2SQ T: +44 121 415 8848 E: [email protected] ABC, DCR, DCS, RSI, MERT, MERT-Enhanced, 1:1, IRT, JTTR these contemporary abbreviations are increasingly used in conversations regar...

U.S military medical personnel are currently trained to care for combat casualties using the principles taught in the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course. The appropriateness of many of the measures taught in ATLS for the combat setting is unproven. A 2-year study to review this issue has been sponsored by the United States Special Operations Command. This paper presents the results of t...

The book of Revelation describes the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse, conquest, death, famine, and war as the hardships that human kind must endure before the end of the world. The hardships of war have been evident throughout history and are now illustrated for us at least twice a day on the morning and evening news. Not so obvious have been the benefits derived from surgical experience during wa...

Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including s...

CMAJ • March 25, 2008 • 178(7) 818 K enya’s slide into ethnic tension, anarchy and political violence has thrown the country’s health sector into crisis. Drugs and other medical supplies are in short supply. Health facilities are overwhelmed by the injured and untreated. Camps for those displaced by the conflict are crowded and unsanitary. In many places, healthcare workers have abandoned their...