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Transport and Use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound by a Disaster Medical Assistance Team

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Stefan M. Mazur  and
James Rippey
Stefan M. Mazur*
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western, Australia
James Rippey
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, Sir Charles Gardener Hospital, Perth, Western, Australia
*
State Director of TrainingRegional Director NQldCareFlight Medical ServicesPO Box 829AitkenvaleQueensland 4814Australia E-mail: stefanm@careflightmedical.org.au
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Abstract

The role of ultrasound in disaster medicine has not been not well established. This report describes the transport and use of point-of-care ultrasound by Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) responding to a mass-casualty incident due to a cyclone. Ultrasound-competent physicians on the team were able to use portable ultrasound on cyclone casualties to exclude intra-abdominal hemorrhage, peri cardial fluid, pneumothoraces, and hemothoraces Information obtained using ultrasound made initial patient management, and subsequent decisions regarding triage for transport safer and based on more detailed clinical information.

Keywords

aeromedicalcyclonedisasterdisaster medical assistance teamFocused Assessment by Sonography in Traumamass-casualty incidentpatient transportpoint-of-careretrievalultrasound
Type
Case Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 140 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2009

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