ijerph-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine and Crises Management

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 10375

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, 70182 Örebro, Sweden
Interests: woman health; sexual and reproductive health; physical and psychological health and wellbeing in disasters; global health research

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, 70182 Örebro, Sweden
Interests: disaster management; disaster medicine; prehospital emergency management; psychosocial support; crises communication; international relief

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Man-made events, natural events, or conflicts cause major incidents, disasters, and crises all over the world. Human consequences from such events include both physical and psychosocial effects, an in individual, group, and societal perspectives. Disaster management includes the preparations, response, recovery, and mitigation perspectives, and the activities may be on an individual, community, or strategic level. The response after a mass casualty or disaster event requires a well-coordinated, most often multi sectorial response, involving several actors, both professional and voluntary. The response can be provided by local, national, and/or international organizations. In such situations, the challenge is to correctly identify urgent and long term needs or risks, and to respond to these in an affective and sustainable way.

This Special Issue welcomes papers with a prehospital or disaster management perspective related to major incidents and disasters. Subjects may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Relief and civil protection responses to major incidents and disasters
  • Prehospital, hospital, and public health perspectives on major incidents and disasters
  • Crises management
  • Preparation and risk reduction perspectives
  • Psychosocial perspectives on major incidents and disasters
  • Vulnerable populations in disasters
  • Sustainability in disaster crises management
  • Non-governmental organizations
  • Civil–military coordination and response
  • Crises management perspectives such as decision-making processes, leadership, or crises communication

Dr. Annsofie Adolfsson
Dr. Karin Hugelius
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • disaster
  • mass casualty
  • crises management
  • prehospital medical care
  • disaster response

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

9 pages, 654 KiB  
Article
Stress among Emergency Health Care Workers on Nuclear or Radiation Disaster: A Preliminary State Survey
by Jean-Baptiste Bouillon-Minois, Vincent Roux, Bruno Pereira, Mara Flannery, Carole Pelissier, Céline Occelli, Jeannot Schmidt, Valentin Navel and Frédéric Dutheil
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8384; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168384 - 08 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1809
Abstract
Background: The nuclear or radiation disaster risk within the French Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes state is low (but not absent) due to its proximity to four Nuclear Power Generation Centers and two regional cancer control centers. This study aims to compare subjective stress ratings for emergency [...] Read more.
Background: The nuclear or radiation disaster risk within the French Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes state is low (but not absent) due to its proximity to four Nuclear Power Generation Centers and two regional cancer control centers. This study aims to compare subjective stress ratings for emergency health care workers regarding nuclear and radiation disasters between two locations: at work versus at home. Materials and Methods: We distributed an anonymous online questionnaire via RedCap® to all emergency health care workers who could be involved in patient care after a nuclear or radiation disaster. It comprised 18 questions divided into three parts—theoretical knowledge and practical assessment, stress assessment, and sociodemographic criteria. Results: We analyzed 107 responses. There was a significant 11-point increase in stress levels between work and home regarding nuclear or radiation disaster risks (p = 0.01). Less than 25% of emergency health care workers surveyed benefited from annual training. Conclusion: The stress levels of emergency health care workers regarding nuclear or radiation disaster were higher at work than at home and increased without annual training. It is important to increase knowledge about these protocols and to mandate yearly training for all workers potentially involved in these disasters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prehospital and Disaster Medicine and Crises Management)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

13 pages, 516 KiB  
Review
Five Challenges When Managing Mass Casualty or Disaster Situations: A Review Study
by Karin Hugelius, Julia Becker and Annsofie Adolfsson
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(9), 3068; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093068 - 28 Apr 2020
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 7336
Abstract
Background: Managing mass casualty or disaster incidents is challenging to any person or organisation. Therefore, this paper identifies and describes common challenges to managing such situations, using case and lessons learned reports. It focuses on sudden onset, man-made or technologically caused mass [...] Read more.
Background: Managing mass casualty or disaster incidents is challenging to any person or organisation. Therefore, this paper identifies and describes common challenges to managing such situations, using case and lessons learned reports. It focuses on sudden onset, man-made or technologically caused mass casualty or disaster situations. Methods: A management review was conducted based on a structured search in the PubMed and Web of Science databases. Results: The review included 20 case—and lessons learned reports covering natural disasters, man-made events, and accidents across Europe, the United States of Amerika (USA), Asia and the Middle East. Five common challenges were identified: (1) to identify the situation and deal with uncertainty, (2) to balance the mismatch between the contingency plan and the reality, (3) to establish a functional crisis organization, (4) to adapt the medical response to the actual and overall situation and (5) to ensure a resilient response. Conclusions: The challenges when managing mass casualty or disaster events involved were mainly related to the ability to manage uncertainty and surprising situations, using structured processes to respond. The ability to change mind set, organization and procedures, both from an organizational- and individual perspective, was essential. Non-medical factors and internal factors influenced the medical management. In order to respond in an effective, timely and resilient way, all these factors should be taken into consideration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prehospital and Disaster Medicine and Crises Management)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop