Main description:

A very handy practical book written by French doctors specialised in disaster medicine, this guide offers their core experience condensed in 50 small, easily digestible chapters. Each chapter is designed to enable the reader to "know", "understand", and learn what to "do" in the concerned situation, ensuring the crucial information is easily on hand and available.

Facing disasters, whether natural or man-made, technological or social, what are the risks and the consequences of such hazards on victims? What kind of care to provide? How to get organised, to have the appropriate resources, and to protect oneself as a responder? The French emergency and healthcare preparedness has followed a unique path. The responding medical doctors have followed in the footsteps of Dominique Larrey, a military surgeon and the father of emergency medicine. For him, the on-scene presence of doctors is paramount to organise the entire healthcare and emergency response, an innovative method that has proven its efficacy. This book is intended for all healthcare and emergency staff, doctors, paramedics or first aiders in ambulances or in emergency services who might come to deal with a massive influx of injured, poisoned, or traumatised victims. The management of multiple concomitant emergencies requires specific know-how and skills.
May this guide contribute to the dissemination of a validated French know-how and thus to save lives and alleviate suffering.

Contents:

ContentsWarning ................................................................................................................................................... List of authors and acknowledgement .................................................................................................... Acknowledgement ...............................................................................................................................
Part IIntroduction to disaster medicine ......................................................................................................... 1. Disaster, uncommon health crises, and disaster medicine ....................................................... 2. Ethics, deontology in disasters .................................................................................................. 3. Medico-legal issues ................................................................................................................... 4. Doctors and media in disasters ................................................................................................. Part IIOrganising Healthcare and emergency actions ..............................................................................5. ORSEC-NOVI plan ....................................................................................................................... 6. Contingency plan, uncommon health crises (UHC) ................................................................... 7. Emergency chain in disaster medicine ...................................................................................... 8. Medical Emergency Director (MED) .......................................................................................... 9. First doctor on disaster scene ................................................................................................... 10. Role of the medical manager of intra-hospital crisis............................................................. 11. Triage of disaster medicine ................................................................................................... 12. Advanced medical posts (AMP) ............................................................................................. 13. Casualty collection point (CCP) .............................................................................................. 14. Rescue in shooting and hostages-taking ............................................................................... 15. Medical coverage of big crowds ............................................................................................ Part IIIDisastrous events ..........................................................................................................................16. Destructive earthquakes ....................................................................................................... 17. Cyclones ................................................................................................................................. 18. Volcanic eruptions ................................................................................................................. 19. Cold waves ............................................................................................................................. 20. Heat waves ............................................................................................................................ 21. Disasters and epidemics ........................................................................................................ 22. Dwellings fires ....................................................................................................................... 23. Fire smoke inhalation ............................................................................................................ 24. Explosions .............................................................................................................................. 25. Nuclear and radiological accidents ........................................................................................ 26. Traffic accidents involving many victims ............................................................................... 27. Railway accidents .................................................................................................................. 28. Warfare chemical agents ....................................................................................................... 29. Forest fires ............................................................................................................................. Part IVTechniques of disaster medicine ...................................................................................................
30. Principles of field medical care .............................................................................................. 31. Medical dispatch in crises and disasters ............................................................................... 32. Crush syndrome..................................................................................................................... 33. Blast ....................................................................................................................................... 34. Ballistic wounds: management principles ............................................................................. 35. Damage control ..................................................................................................................... 36. Fluid therapy in disasters ...................................................................................................... 37. Procedural sedation and analgesia ....................................................................................... 38. Search and rescue (SAR) .......................................................................................................39. Life-saving amputation ........................................................................................................ 40. Disaster situations and psychological impact...................................................................... 41. Reception of CoVID-19 patients at the ER ........................................................................... 42. Mass casualty decontamination .......................................................................................... 43. Emergency dry decontamination ........................................................................................ 44. Children and disasters ......................................................................................................... 45. Pharmaceutical preparedness in disaster medicine............................................................ 46. Antidotes for chemical and radiological agents .................................................................. 47. Mobile medical post (MMP) ................................................................................................ 48. PPE of health staff ............................................................................................................... 49. FMC, SINUS, and patient tracking in disasters .................................................................... 50. Transmission in disasters .....................................................................................................