Disaster Medicine- definition, principles and terminology
Written by Anam Hussain
Disaster Medicine: is an interdisciplinary medical speciality with scientific and medical approach to disasters medical management and support to populations
Principles:
- Assure safety and security of the medical teams. In losing a medic the negative consequences will be two-fold (DMS loses capability which is scarce already, medic becomes a new casualty)
- The objective is not to treat and secure the single injured individual but to provide maximal volume of aid for maximal number of casualties
- Early hazard detection, followed by risk assessment and triage
- Continuity of medical support has to be assured for every casualty: medical assistance first commences in area of damage with first aid, followed by primary triage and evacuation followed by first medical aid and medical evacuation and treatment in the hospital, if required
- All described medical activities are in co-ordination with the activities of other structures of the URS (unified rescue team)
- Lessons learnt from every disaster medical relief activity are invaluable for constant Disaster Medicine development
Terminology:
- Hazard: is a process, phenomenon or human activity that can cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. Each hazard is characterised by its location, intensity/magnitude, frequency/probability
- Risk: disaster risk is defined as the potential loss of life, injury or destroyed/damaged assets which could occur to a system, society or community in a specific period of time. There are two types of risks: acceptable and residual risk. Acceptable risk is risk that is tolerable by society and depends on existing conditions: social, economic, environmental, political. Probability for this is low. Residual risk is the disaster risk which remains even when disaster risk reduction measures are implemented.
- Exposure: defines anything that is potentially at risk. This includes: people, property, facilities, infrastructure; which are located in risk prone areas, in AOD or areas where hazards have been identified
- Vulnerability: is the reduced ability of an individual or group to predict, cope, resist and recover from the effects of a natural or man-made disaster. It depends on human/societal preparedness and exposure to the hazards
- Resilience: is the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards, to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a time efficient manner.
- Risk factor: is a variable whose existence increases the particular hazard realization probability, in certain circumstances