The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced the release of a new Blast Injury mobile application to assist in the response and clinical management of injuries resulting from terrorist bombings and other mass casualty explosive events. The application provides clear, concise, up-to-date medical and healthcare systems information to assist healthcare providers and public health professionals in the preparation, response, and management of injuries resulting from terrorist bombing events.
In an instant, an explosion or blast can wreck havoc; producing numerous casualties with complex, technically challenging injuries not commonly seen after natural disasters such as floods or hurricanes.
To address this issue, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with partners from the Terrorism Injuries Information, Dissemination and Exchange (TIIDE) Project, as well as other experts in the field, have developed fact sheets for health care providers that provide detailed information on the treatment of blast injuries.
The fact sheet addresses background, clinical presentation, diagnostic evaluation, management and disposition of blast injury topics.
BOSTON — For years, Dr. Michael J. Weaver, an orthopedic trauma surgeon, went to meetings of his professional society and heard surgeons from the military describe what they had learned treating blast injuries. Then he would return to his practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he mostly treated people injured in auto accidents or falls.
All that changed on Monday when victims of the bombings at the Boston Marathon arrived.
“We’ve seen similar injuries, but never of this magnitude,” Dr. Weaver said. “This is completely different.” The military experience, he added, “has been phenomenally helpful.”
It turns out to be an art — and a delicate balancing act — to treat people with blast injuries that can pulverize muscle and rip blood vessels, that can drive pieces of metal into soft flesh and shatter bones. Trauma surgeons call it damage control, and say the military experience showed how important it is.Read the full article
The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health has gathered resources for health professionals in response to the April 15th explosions in Boston to foster resilience through learning.
The organization of the content is intended to facilitate self-directed learning as well as provide materials for educators.
The National Center encourages health professionals to process the events of April 15th by educating themselves and others to contribute to “a Nation of resilient communities.”
This Burn Resource Manual has been created as a tool for use by the Emergency Departments in all Los Angeles County Hospitals. The materials were developed and/or selected from the burn literature by a Burn Task Force. This Burn Task Force was created by the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency. This multi-disciplinary group included the Medical Directors and Administrative Nurses from the three burn centers in Los Angeles County, one center in Orange County and one center in San Bernardino county and representatives of the Emergency Medical Services Agency.
This Information Bulletin contains information gained from federal, state and local public safety sources with expertise in explosives and response to explosives incidents. As with any public safety issue, local agencies must determine local policies and procedures. Note that a subsequent Information Bulletin will be issued, to include information for use when responding to a suspected bomber, if the call is received prior to an actual detonation.
