Personal Protective Equipment and Decontamination of Adults and Children

Holland, Michael; Cawthon, David

doi:10.1016/j.emc.2014.09.006

Cited by 16 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In these tests, the chemical was applied to a coupon material and allowed to "weather" for three different time periods up to 45 min. This time period was considered to be the longest time that a chemical would be present on PPE prior to decontamination, assuming that personnel entry would occur under unknown field conditions requiring the use of a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) (Level A or B [14]) with a limited air supply. Each persistence test consisted of three persistence test coupons and a single procedural blank.…”

Section: Persistence Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decontamination of personal protective equipment and related materials contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agent surrogates

Oudejans

O’Kelly

Evans

et al. 2016

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

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Section: Persistence Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decontamination of personal protective equipment and related materials contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agent surrogates

Oudejans

O’Kelly

Evans

et al. 2016

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

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“…The cornerstones of successful prehospital management of chemical mass-casualty situations include the rapid identification of the substance, personal protective equipment and its proper use, decontamination, proper triage, and Basic and Advanced Life Support and antidote therapy, if indicated. 2,4,7,14,15 The identification of toxins can be challenging in the field. There, the concept of toxidrome may help EMS providers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparedness of Finnish Emergency Medical Services for Chemical Emergencies

Jama

Kuisma

2016

Prehosp. Disaster med.

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IntroductionThe preparedness level of Finnish Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for treating chemical emergencies is unknown. The aim of this study was to survey the preparedness level of EMS systems for managing and handling mass-casualty chemical incidents in the prehospital phase in Finland.HypothesisThe study hypothesis was that university hospital districts would have better clinical capability to treat patients than would central hospital districts in terms of the number of patients treated in the field within one hour after dispatching as well as patients transported to hospital within one hour or two hours after dispatching.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted as a Webropol (Wuppertal, Germany) survey. All hospital districts (n=20) in continental Finland were asked about their EMS preparedness level in terms of capability of treating and transporting chemically affected patients in the field. Their capability for decontamination of affected patients in the field was also inquired.ResultsUniversity hospital district-based EMS systems had at least 20% better absolute clinical capacity than central hospital-based EMS systems for treating chemically affected patients concerning all treatments inquired about, except the capacity for non-invasive ventilation (NIV)/continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in the field. Overall, there was a good level of preparedness for treating chemical accident patients with supplemental oxygen, bronchodilators, and inhaled corticosteroids. Preparedness for providing antidote therapy in cases of cyanide gas exposure was, in general, low. The variation among the hospital districts was remarkable. Only nine of 15 central hospital district EMS had a mobile decontamination unit available, whereas four of five university hospital districts had one.ConclusionEmergency Medical Services capacity in Finland for treating chemically affected patients in the field needs to be improved, especially in terms of antidote therapy. Mobile decontamination units should be available in all hospital districts.JamaTJ, KuismaMJ. Preparedness of Finnish Emergency Medical Services for chemical emergencies. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(4):392–396.

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“…Collective exposure to toxic materials may lead to a chaotic situation, derived from a lack of communication between varied stakeholders and response teams, scarcity of human and material resources, or deficient infrastructure for provision of patient care [3,19,20]. The severe potential consequences of exposure to toxic materials necessitate the establishment of strategies for life-saving procedures, the implementation of an immediate response, a rapid decontamination process, triage of patients, and on-site and hospital medical treatment procedures [21][22][23]. Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) concerning the treatment of contaminated patients need to be established, the systemic operation of medical entities has to be designed and incorporated in the overall healthcare systems' disaster plans, and safety procedures have to be defined and integrated in advance to prevent staff's exposure to toxic materials without adequate protection [7,20].…”

Section: Components Of Hospitals' Preparednessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maintaining Preparedness to Severe Though Infrequent Threats—Can It Be Done?

Siman‐Tov

Davidson

Adini

2020

IJERPH

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Background: A mass casualty incident (MCI) caused by toxicological/chemical materials constitutes a potential though uncommon risk that may cause great devastation. Presentation of casualties exposed to such materials in hospitals, if not immediately identified, may cause secondary contamination resulting in dysfunction of the emergency department. The study examined the impact of a longitudinal evaluation process on the ongoing emergency preparedness of hospitals for toxicological MCIs, over a decade. Methods: Emergency preparedness for toxicological incidents of all Israeli hospitals were periodically evaluated, over ten years. The evaluation was based on a structured tool developed to encourage ongoing preparedness of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), equipment and infrastructure, knowledge of personnel, and training and exercises. The benchmarks were distributed to all hospitals, to be used as a foundation to build and improve emergency preparedness. Scores were compared within and between hospitals. Results: Overall mean scores of emergency preparedness increased over the five measurements from 88 to 95. A significant increase between T1 (first evaluation) and T5 (last evaluation) occurred in SOPs (p = 0.006), training and exercises (p = 0.003), and in the overall score (p = 0.004). No significant changes were found concerning equipment and infrastructure and knowledge; their scores were consistently very high throughout the decade. An interaction effect was found between the cycles of evaluation and the hospitals’ geographical location (F (1,20) = 3.0, p = 0.056), proximity to other medical facilities (F (1,20) = 10.0 p = 0.005), and type of area (Urban vs. Periphery) (F (1,20) = 13.1, p = 0.002). At T5, all hospitals achieved similar high scores of emergency preparedness. Conclusions: Use of accessible benchmarks, which clearly delineate what needs to be continually implemented, facilitates an ongoing sustenance of effective levels of emergency preparedness. As this was demonstrated for a risk that does not frequently occur, it may be assumed that it is possible and practical to achieve and maintain emergency preparedness for other potential risks.

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Personal Protective Equipment and Decontamination of Adults and Children

Cited by 16 publications

References 18 publications

Decontamination of personal protective equipment and related materials contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agent surrogates

Decontamination of personal protective equipment and related materials contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agent surrogates

Preparedness of Finnish Emergency Medical Services for Chemical Emergencies

Maintaining Preparedness to Severe Though Infrequent Threats—Can It Be Done?

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