Monday January 18, 2010
Medical professionals are trained to think quickly on their feet, make decisions under pressure, and handle life-or-death situations on a regular basis. Could any medical school course, training exercise, or hospital trauma experience prepare physicians and other medical professionals for the devastation and medical circumstances being experienced in Haiti in the wake of last week's devastating earthquake?
In one report, an ABC News reporter followed a Haitian man to what used to be the local hospital, and is now a pile of rubble and bodies. He tells the reporter that all of the doctors and nurses are dead, including the young nursing students from the adjacent nursing school, also reduced to a pile of dust and concrete fragments.
In what some are referring to as "Civil War Medicine," medical teams arriving in Haiti from around the world are caring for victims under extenuating circumstances - no hospitals are intact, there is very little water, and very limited resources in general.
CBS followed one team of American doctors as they arrived in Haiti from the University of Miami. The doctors were processing hundreds of victims in an airplane hanger serving as a makeshift hospital. In addition to the limited resources, the perils of treating patients in Haiti are many - due to high infection rates of HIV, tuberculosis, and a number of other communicable diseases prevalent in Haiti, an accidental needle-stick could be devastating to medical professionals there, according to the CBS report.
To illustrate the incredible obstacles physicians face in Haiti, CBS interviewed a surgeon who had just performed surgery on a young child who had been trapped in the rubble. The young girl had been pinned under concrete and corpses for days. To save her life, the physician had to amputate her damaged arm after she was pulled to safety. However, he had to do so on a folding banquet table as a surgical table, out in the open air, due to lack of medical facilities. Additionally, the lack of surgical instruments created more challenges. The surgeon first attempted the surgery with a scalpel that proved too blunt for the procedure, until someone found an electric saw to give to the doctor, that he was able to use to successfully remove the young patient's arm. He didn't mention what they used for anesthesia, but hopefully he had some type of adequate anesthetic.
The scene is certainly testing the limits of medical professionals and forcing them to adapt as they probably never have before. Please continue to pray and give to a reputable charity. CNN has posted a list of vetted charities on their site, to facilitate cash donations to charities, and ensure that the most money goes directly to Haiti to aid the earthquake victims who need it most. Additionally, the American Red Cross is another safe option for donating money.Doctors Resort to "Civil War Medicine" to Treat Haiti Earthquake VictimsSource: www.about.com
View this post on my blog: http://travelnursesuccess.com/doctors-resort-to-civil-war-medicine-to-treat-haiti-earthquake-victims
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