Disaster Medicine Extravaganza - Dr. Noste

Definitions

• Disaster = "A serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing wideshpread human, material, or enviornmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources" (UN, 1992). Emphasis is the inability of a society (community, state, nation) to respond to the event.

• Disaster cycle is composed of:
  

1. Preparation
   
2. Event Response
   
3. Recovery
   
4. Mitigation
   

• Resilience = The capacity to cope with or recover from emergencies and disasters  
  

Basics of Personal Security for Travel to Developing Countries - Macpherson

• Before you travel, do some research (can consult the following sites)
  

- http://www.travel.state.gov
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
- http://www.doingbusiness.org/
- http://www.lonelyplanet.com

• The most important aspect of security when you travel is your situational awareness
  

1. Pay attention to your surroundings
   
2. Be sensitive to change
   
3. Act accordingly (trust your instincts)
   

• Travel to/from and within the country
  

1. Cell phone  - most vital piece of equipment (consider getting a local cell phone)
   
2. Don't travel with more than you are willing to lose
   
3. Don't travel with more than you can carry yourself
   
4. Have an advance plan for travel from airport to hotel
   
5. Don't travel around alone
   
6. Find out what areas to avoid
   
7. Vary your route
   

• Be careful what you post on social media  
  

Pediatric Disaster Medicine and Triage - Noste

• The pediatric population is at higher risk of injury during a MCI/disaster/CBRNE event

1. Body heat loss is increased during exposure or following decon
   
2. Vital sign screening is frequently inadequate
   
3. Internal organ damage is often overlooked
   
4. Thinner skin is more vulnerable to the effects of radiation
   
5. Typically closer to the ground and more likely to ingest heavier than air gases or contaminated particulate matter
   

•  Children <4 years old have a 4.5x rate of death from cholera  
  
• JumpSTART modifications for pediatric MCI
  

1. Why? Cap refill is unreliable and strongly influenced by the environment in the pediatric patient
2. Respirations may be normally > 30/min
3. Not all children can walk or follow commands
   
4. Biggest modifications are: Normal respiration rate 15-45 bpm, if patient is apneic after repositioning the airway give 5 rescue breaths (if no response then triage code black, if response then triage code red),
   
5. There is a high rate of "over-triage" pediatric patients in MCI (300-400%)

---