The purpose of this study is to report the incidence of landmine injuries during peacetime in a European country.

Forty victims of landmine explosions were admitted to Didimoticho General Hospital in Greece, from December 1988 to March 2003. A total of 19 people survived (47.5%) these events; all of the others were dead upon admission to the hospital. All of the victims were men, either suspected smugglers or migrants entering the country illegally, with an aver- age of 30 years (range: 15–56 years).

Most victims presented in groups, with multiple traumatic injuries, including lower extremity wounds. The mortality rate in the minefield prior to hospital admission was 52.5%, and the amputation rate for the survivors was 37%. There were no deaths of the patients admitted to the hospital.

Landmines cause highenergy injuries with high mortality and amputation rates. Illegal migrants are the main victims of landmine explosions in Greece.

The objectives of this study were to determine the clinical characteristics of patients who presented to the Reanimation Unit (RU) of a second-level hospital during one year, and the number and type of emergency procedures performed.

A cross-sectional study was designed that enrolled all patients >15 years of age who presented to the RU from 01 January through 31 December 2003. The age, gender, diagnosis, site of origin, and disposition of each patient was recorded, as well as the distribution by time of day, the number and type of emergency procedures performed, complications, and mortality rate.

Of the 3,741 patients enrolled in the study, 57.0% were male; predominantly 41–50 years old (20%). Most patients presented to the RU from their homes during the afternoon.There were 60 different admission diagnoses: more of the emergencies were for medical than for traumatic emergencies. The predominant pathologies were bronchospasm, hypertensive crisis, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Initially, patients either were admitted to the observation unit, the consulting office for the emergency department, or the intensive care unit. There were a total of 2,753 emergency procedures performed: orotracheal intubations were the most common, followed by installation of a catheter into the central venous circulation. Of all of the patients admitted to the RU, 31% were not insured.

There exists a remarkable combination between medical and traumatic emergencies, which is not encountered frequently in other second level-hospitals in Mexico City. A high proportion of the patients who received medical attention were not insured and there were a large number of emergency invasive procedures performed.

Recent events have brought disaster medicine into the public focus. Both the government and communities expect hospitals to be prepared to cope with all types of emergencies. Disaster simulations are the traditional method of testing hospital disaster plans, but a recent, comprehensive, literature review failed to find any substantial scientific data proving the benefit of these resource and time-consuming exercises.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that an audiovisual presentation of the hospital disaster plans followed by a simulated disaster exercise and debriefing improved staff knowledge, confidence, and hospital preparedness for disasters.

A survey of 50 members of the medical, nursing, and administrative staff were chosen from a pool of approximately 170 people likely to be in a position of responsibility in the event of a disaster.The pre-intervention survey tested factual knowledge as well as perceptions about individual and departmental preparedness. Post-intervention, the same 50 staff members were asked to repeat the survey, which included additional questions establishing their involvement in the exercise.

There were 50 pre-intervention tests and 42 post-intervention tests. The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in test pass rate: preintervention pass rate 9/50 (18%, 95% confidence interval ((CI) = 16.1–19.9%) versus post-intervention pass rate 21/42 (50%, 95% CI = 42.4–57.6%; X2 test, p = 0.002). Emergency department (ED) staff had a stronger baseline knowledge than non-ED staff: ED pre-test mean value for scores = 12.1 versus nonED scores of 6.2 (difference 5.9, 95% CI = 3.3–8.4); t-test, p <0.001. Those that attended >1 component had a greater increase in mean scores: increase in mean attendees was 5.6, versus the scores of non-attendees of 2.7 (difference 2.9, 95% CI = 1.0–4.9); t-test, p = 0.004. There was no significant increase in the general perception of preparedness. However, the majority of those surveyed described the exercise of benefit to themselves (53.7%,95% CI = 45.5–61.8%) and their department (63.2%, 95% CI = 53.5–72.8%).

The disaster exercise and educational process had the greatest benefit for individuals and departments involved directly. The intervention also prompted enterprise-wide review, and an upgrade of disaster plans at departmental levels. Pre-intervention knowledge scores were poor. Post-intervention knowledge base remained suboptimal, despite a statistically significant improvement. This study supports the widely held belief that disaster simulation is a worthwhile exercise, but more must be done. More time and resources must be dedicated to the increasingly important field of hospital disaster preparedness.

Colleges and universities are experiencing increasing demand for online courses in many healthcare disciplines, including emergency medical services (EMS). Development and implementation of online paramedic courses with the quality of education experienced in the traditional classroom setting is essential in order to maintain the integrity of the educational process. Currently, there is conflicting evidence of whether a significant difference exists in student performance between online and traditional nursing and allied health courses. However, there are no published investigations of the effectiveness of online learning by paramedic students.

Performance of paramedic students enrolled in an online, undergraduate, research methods course is equivalent to the performance of students enrolled in the same course provided in a traditional, classroom environment.

Academic performance, learning styles, and course satisfaction surveys were compared between two groups of students. The course content was identical for both courses and taught by the same instructor during the same semester. The primary difference between the traditional course and the online course was the method of lecture delivery. Lectures for the on-campus students were provided live in a traditional classroom setting using PowerPoint slides. Lectures for the online students were provided using the same PowerPoint slides with prerecorded streaming audio and video.

A convenience sample of 23 online and 10 traditional students participated in this study. With the exception of two learning domains, the two groups of students exhibited similar learning styles as assessed using the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales instrument. The online students scored significantly lower in the competitive and dependent dimensions than did the on-campus students. Academic performance was similar between the two groups. The online students devoted slightly more time to the course than did the campus students, although this difference did not reach statistical significance. In general, the online students believed the online audio lectures were more effective than the traditional live lectures.

Distance learning technology appears to be an effective mechanism for extending didactic paramedic education off-campus, and may be beneficial particularly to areas that lack paramedic training programs or adequate numbers of qualified instructors.

During the 2004 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit, essential counter-measures, including medical preparedness, were taken to cope with any suspected terrorist case or events including the use of chemical or biological (CB) weapons.The Summit was held in Istanbul, a city that bridges two continents, and involved the participation of many Heads of State, Prime Ministers, and Defense Ministers from 26 NATO countries.

First responders, including medical Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) teams, received special training. Essential equipment, including drugs, antidotes, detectors, etc., was provided and stockpiled. Medical authorities augmented the capacity for identifying and con- trolling the injuries and any emerging CB incident through the set-up of decontamination units and the procurement of medical devices, antidotes, drugs, and personal protective suits. Additionally, a small part of the recently established NATO-CBRN battalion was welcomed to the Summit and was prepared to perform detection and identification of the agent found in suspicious appearing samples.

Although no CB incident was reported during the Summit, extensive experience was gained with respect to medical preparedness against CB terrorism. Sampling, detection, and analysis of toxic materials were taken into account in the medical management. Much laboratory-related work was conducted in the following time period. The laboratory work involved the stan-dardization of sampling and transportation procedures, development of both mobile and reference laboratories, and performing research activities aimed to make the CB analysis more efficient.

Although the training of the medical staff was advanced, training should be continuous and supported with educational programs, conferences, meetings, and tabletop and hospital medical exercises throughout the country.

Multidisciplinary cooperation, training, and preparedness should be provided to basic medical care units and centers as part of the medical planning aimed at perfect detection and surveillance, laboratory analysis, and emergency response.

Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) incidents are low frequency, high impact events that require specialized train-ing outside of usual clinical practice. Educational modalities must recreate these clinical scenarios in order to provide realistic first responder/receiver training.

High fidelity, mannequin-based (HFMB) simulation and video clinical vignettes were used to create a simulation-based CBRNE course directed at the recognition, triage, and resuscitation of contaminated victims. The course participants, who consisted of first responders and receivers, were evaluated using a 43-question pre- and post-test that employed 12 video clinical vignettes as scenarios for the test questions. The results of the pre-test were analyzed according to the various medical training backgrounds of the participants to identify differences in baseline performance. A Scheffe posthoc test and an ANOVA were used to determine differences between the medical training backgrounds of the participants. For those participants who completed both the pre-course and post-course test, the results were compared using a paired Student's t-test.

A total of 54 first responders/receivers including physicians, nurses, and paramedics completed the course. Pre-course and post-course test results are listed by learner category. For all participants who took the pre-course test (n = 67), the mean value of the test scores was 53.5 ±12.7%. For all participants who took the post-course test (n = 54), the mean value of the test scores was 78.3 ±10.9%. The change in score for those who took both the pre- and post-test (n = 54) achieved statistical significance at all levels of learner.

The results suggest that video clinical vignettes and HFMB simulation are effective methods of CBRNE training and evaluation. Future studies should be conducted to determine the educational and cost-effectiveness of the use of these modalities.

Since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, concerns have been raised regarding the threat of a radiological terrorist weapon. Although the probability of the employment of a nuclear device is remote, the potential of a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or “dirty bomb” is of concern. While it is unlikely that such a device would produce massive numbers of casualties, it is far more likely that it would result in pub- lic panic and perhaps even disable the local healthcare system. The utility of surveillance with radiation detectors in the healthcare setting has not been fully evaluated.

The objective of this study was to characterize the prevalence of radioactive sources entering an urban emergency department (ED).

A retrospective review of data obtained from a radiation detector positioned to detect radioactive people entering an ED of an urban academic hospital that serves 45,000 patients/year was performed. Graphical outputs of radioactivity were recorded in Microsoft ExcelTM (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, US) spreadsheets in microREM/hour. Data were collected continuous-ly from 22 December 2003 to 22 January 2004. An event was defined as any elevation in radiation levels >95% confidence interval from the mean level of background radiation over 72 hours (h).

A total of 215 events were observed over a 28-day period, with a mean value of 7.7 events/day, and a maximum of 15 events/day. During the 28-day period, the baseline mean level of background radiation was 2–4 microREM/h. Readings ranged from 2,148.28–17,292.25 microREM/h with a maximum sustained detector exposure of 684.37 microREM. Distinct signal patterns were seen at both detectors including tonic, phasic, dual, and short duration spikes.

The number of radioactive signals detected from persons entering the ED was much higher than expected. While the vast majority of these signals pose no health threat, they may make routine screening for a radiological terrorist event difficult.Further study is needed to determine this correlation.

Several factors are important for the number and severity of medical emergencies during mass-gatherings. The risk of violence, the size and mobility of the crowd, the type of event, weather, and duration of the event all influence the outcome. During the European Union (EU) Summit, from 15–16 June 2001 in Gothenburg, Sweden, approximately 50,000 people participated in 43 protest marches, some which included 15,000 participants. Clashes between police and the protesters occurred.

The objective of this study was to analyze the amount and character of injuries as well as the medical complaints in relation to the EU Summit. In addition, the aim of this study was to describe the organization and function of the healthcare services provided during the meeting.

This study is based on the medical records of patients presenting with injuries and other types of medical emergencies at the healthcare stations during the Summit.

In total, 143 patients sought medical care. Fifty-three (37.1%) were police officers. Most patients had minor complaints, but a few were seriously injured.The Patient Presentation Rate (PPR) was 2.7. Nine victims were hospitalized as high priority.

The PPR for the EU Summit was 2.7, which is in the same range as previously reported from other mass-gatherings.