OBJECTIVE Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) aim to bring a highly specialised crew to the scene of major incidents for triage, treatment and transport. We aim to describe experiences made by HEMS in Norway in the management of major incidents. DESIGN Doctors, rescue paramedics and pilots working in Norwegian HEMS and Search and Rescue Helicopters (SAR) January 1st 2015 were invited...

Nowadays, the necessity of accurate quantitative decision support methods is becoming a critical subject for managers as rivalry between organizations caused a more fragile economic environment and brand reputation is becoming more important. Furthermore, dealing with incidents after they happened is not accepted by customers anymore. Managers require powerful decision making tools to support t...

INTRODUCTION Terrorism is a global public health burden. South Americans have been victims of terrorism for many decades. While the causes vary, the results are the same: death, disability, and suffering. The objective of this study was to perform a comprehensive, epidemiological, descriptive study of terrorist incidents in South America. METHODS This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study. ...

background local health departments (lhds) operate in a complex and dynamic public health landscape, with changing demands on their emergency response capacities. informatics capacities might play an instrumental role in aiding lhds emergency preparedness. this study aimed to explore the extent to which lhds’ informatics capacities are associated with their activity level in emergency preparedn...

OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study were to develop and evaluate an "all-hazards" hospital disaster preparedness training course that utilizes a combination of classroom lectures, skills sessions, tabletop sessions, and disaster exercises to teach the principles of hospital disaster preparedness to hospital-based employees. METHODS Participants attended a two-day, 16-hour course, entitled ...

The paper emphasises the important role that learning the lesson from accidents and incidents play in the cyclical process of improving operational safety and security of sources and emergency response arrangements. It reviews events that have provided “awakenings” and the initiatives that have stemmed from them particularly in respect of orphan sources, source security and emergency preparedne...

INTRODUCTION Surge capacity for optimization of access to hospital beds is a limiting factor in response to catastrophic events. Medical facilities, communication tools, manpower, and resource reserves exist to respond to these events. However, these factors may not be optimally functioning to generate an effective and efficient surge response. The objective was to improve the function of these...

Hospital evacuation is a difficult process that requires a robust strategy and careful execution. In the past, threats leading to possible evacuation were primarily natural disasters. In recent years the broadened nature of threats, including hazardous material spills and terrorist incidents, has complicated this already complex problem. Its importance continues to grow, but there is still no c...

Purpose This study describes preparedness of emergency physicians and general practitioners following chemical, radiological nuclear incidents. Design/methodology/approach Five six were interviewed individually, data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings The results showed that physicians' for incidents is linked to one main category: be an expert seek expertise two categori...

one of the major challenges in mega cities is the degree of the preparedness of organizations, institutions and people in facing with critical conditions and their immediate reaction according to pre-defined instructions. identification of priorities and acting accordingly is an undeniable factor in urban crisis management. the purpose of this research was to identify the priorities of prepared...