Biological, Chemical, Nuclear-Radiologic Programme of the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare

Abstract

Abstracts -13th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine had 96% sensitivity, 41% specificity, and 65% accuracy (in general physicians, respectively, 100%, 70%, and 85%). Conclusions: Considering limitations in the usage of more advanced resources in Iran for screening and earlier initiation of therapeutic measures -especially telecardiography -simultaneous use of the screening questionnaire and physicians attendance at the patient's bedside, not only results in lowering of EMS system expenses, unnecessary missions, and an increasing role of the EMS System in transportation of emergency patients, but also in comparison to present situation, do not produce meaningful differences in the rate of missed patients. The unprecedented damage to society resulting from this disaster was on the highest social, medical, psychological, and technical scales. The size of this human-made disaster required intensive and immediate efforts from the government, specialists, managers, operators still working at the nuclear power station, clean-up workers, and still others who arrived at the scene of the disaster to provide their services. Millions of people were affected, and some still are struggling with health problems as a consequence of this disaster. The strengths and weaknesses in the disaster management at Chernobyl were analyzed in order to gain a better understanding so that future calamities can be better managed. From a medical standpoint, there was a high level of contamination, difficult diagnosis and triage, and multifactoral health consequences, if any future disaster would have a component of contamination by isotopes, chemicals, or biological agents, the disaster scene would be dramatically changed and would require a significant correction of the management strategies at the scene. For such scenarios, it is crucial to identify common lessons and approaches for improving medical management in such circumstances.In this presentation, a number of the lessons learned from Chernobyl will be discussed that are fundamental for improving the medical management of individuals, reconnaissance teams, and the general population.