Main description:

Disaster medicine is a broad and dynamic field that encompasses the medical and surgical response to mass casualty incidents including rail, air, and road traffic accidents; domestic terrorism; and pandemic outbreaks. It also encompasses the global issues of conflict and natural catastrophe. Specialists in disaster medicine provide insight, guidance, and expertise on the principles and practice of medicine both in the disaster impact area and healthcare evacuation-receiving facilities. They liaise with emergency management professionals, hospitals, healthcare facilities, communities, and governments.

With contributions by international authorities in the field, Making Sense of Disaster Medicine: A Hands-on Guide for Medics is an accessible text designed for all medical students and professionals who may find themselves responding to such incidents. Part of the highly successful Making Sense series, the book features an easy-to-read layout and boxed sections with "learning points," "thinking points," "pearls of wisdom," and "hazards." Each chapter concludes with a summary and list of key resources and case studies further enhance the text.

Contents:

Disaster medicine: Evolution of a specialty
The medical response to domestic terrorism and major incident management
Managing national mass casualty incidents
Classification of disasters
Pre- and post-deployment
Medicine in the field
Surgery in disasters
Psychological aspects of conflict and catastrophe
Marginalized groups in disasters
Healthcare in refugee populations
The realities of war
The hazards of the job
The ethics of Disaster Medicine
Electives in the developing world