Disaster Medicine: A History
In 1937, after a natural gas explosion destroyed a high school in New London, Texas, near the end of a school day, nearby oil workers ran from the fields to find a pile of smoldering rubble. Underneath the debris, they could hear the screams of teenagers and teachers.
In the hours after what was then the second worst disaster in Texas history the actual death count was never determined but approximately 300 lives were lost President Franklin Roosevelt put out a request for medical aid over the radio, and by that evening, doctors and nurses had descended on the town, coming from as far away as Shreveport, Louisiana. Hundreds of vials of anti-tetanus serum were driven to the scene
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From earthquakes to wars to floods and hurricanes, the history of disaster medicine is replete with success and failure when it comes to the results of the physicians, nurses and medical administrators who assist during and in the aftermath of a crisis. And it s a long history. Really, when you look at where disaster medicine started, it goes back to the Civil War battlefields, and even pre-dating to Roman times, says Gary M. Klein, M.D., MPH,
...He or she can recover fully,though it will not happen over night. Be patient and have a hopeful attitude. 6.Keep in mind this is a real illness, also that this is a treatable condition. This is a real physical illness ...
Disasters are chaotic by nature and the medical community has too often gotten caught up in the turmoil. But history is repeating itself, and in this case the repetition is welcome; just as in previous eras, physicians examined their techniques when responding to and treating disaster victims, this latest generation of healers is adapting to new, varied and horrific threats.
But the actual term disaster medicine only began cropping up in the
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Another colonel and physician, Joseph R. Schaeffer, MD, imagined that in a massive nuclear attack, the medical community might become overwhelmed. We have 200,000 doctors to take care of 176,000,000 people in this country,” he told a medical staff at a Texas hospital in 1959. Therefore, the people must learn how to survive for themselves in case of an emergency. Even though Schaeffer s call for civilians to educate themselves largely went unheeded, his life s work is a good example of the type of disaster medicine planning that was taking place during the 1960s.
When Oklahoma City suffered the 1995 domestic terrorist bombing
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Disaster medicine as a specialty and mindset was not only a reaction to September 11, 2001, but also to numerous subsequent events such as the anthrax crisis and Hurricane Katrina. The disaster climate of the last several years has had a profound impact on many physicians, including Paul K. Carlton, M.D., the director of Homeland Security at Texas A&M Health
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As the surgeon general of the Air Force in 2001, he had been practicing disaster training with medical students three months before an airplane hit the Pentagon. His group had, eerily enough, come up with a similar disaster scenario to practice for, only they imagined an aircraft having an unsuccessful take off or landing and crashing into the Pentagon. In their simulation exercises, they did quite poorly, admits Carlton. Yet, because of the drills, on September 11, when Dr. Carlton rushed into the Pentagon
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In the last several years, as disasters have seemed to be on the increase, careers have been created and defined, government plans were put into action, and first-responders such as police and firefighters began crafting plans on how best to handle a disaster. Certainly the medical
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Within two years after the terrorist attacks, the University of South Florida College Of Nursing began offering a disaster and bioterrorism training program, featuring eight one-day classes and an intense two-day program. In determining whether it would be a worthy offering, USF did a survey of 179 healthcare professionals, asking
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Much of what needs to be taught is a mindset, says Dr. Carlton, who cites an example of a suicide bomber who attacked a cafeteria on an American military base in Mosul, Iraq. The kids there had a small team, where they did nine operations in the operating room and 10 in the hallway. That s the kind of Plan B operation that stands us in good stead when we need it. Our medical students need
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The education that Carlton discusses is part of a big movement. New York s Columbia University, for instance, offers two classes that, as their web site explains, bring the events of Sept. 11 into the classroom. The first course is Public Health Consequences of Forced Migration; the second is Emerging Infectious Diseases–manmade germ warfare as opposed to a natural occurrence. In
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In 2003, the American Medical Association (AMA) partnered with four medical centers and three national health organizations, establishing the National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) training program. The AMA also formed a
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Now, more than five years after September 11, 2001, disaster medicine is a field that is growing exponentially. In the midst of all this change, what once seemed improbable now seems inevitable: the creation of a medical board of certification in disaster medicine. It s an idea being championed by the American Board of Physician Specialties. Nodding his approval is Dr. Andrews, board certified in internal, preventative and occupational medicine. Most of us have
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And necessary, says F. Matthew Milhelic, M.D., who is an assistant professor at the Center for Homeland Security Studies at the University of Tennessee s Graduate School of Medicine. I think the way that this board has proposed this idea, making it an inclusive board, will do two things raise the level of competency among physicians to deal with problems in a disaster, and it will also raise awareness across the medical community for the need of preparedness and I
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The majority of physicians are in primary care, family practice, general medicine, and, of course, there are pediatricians and ob-gyn, concurs Captain James W. Terbush, MD, MPH, of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, and a NORAD-USNORTHCOM Command Surgeon at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, who was in the thick of things after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It would be exceptionally helpful if primary care physicians were experts in disaster medicine.
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Geoff Williams is a nationally syndicated columnist and author. Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez is co-founder of Disaster Life Support of North America, Inc., a national provider of Disaster Preparation, Planning, Response and Recovery education. Through his consulting firm High Alert, LLC., he serves on expert panels for pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning with Congressional and Cabinet Members. Board certified in multiple medical specialties, Dr. Ramirez is Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Cited in 24 textbooks with numerous published articles, he is co-creator of
...make often careless mistakes in what they do, whether they are working on homework or a financial report. If they must take on duties, they will often choose those that require the least mental effort. Those with ADD will also ...













