The beginning of the end-The cost of liberation

Abstract

This case study outlines three female patients who presented to a World Health Organisation (WHO) battlefield trauma hospital in Mosul, Iraq, reportedly suffering from chlorine gas exposure post explosion. All three patients experienced critical symptoms that strayed from regular chlorine exposure and pushed the capability of our facility to its limit. Many unique features of this case present themselves but the outstanding feature is highlighted through the staffing model. This model was led by the local Iraqi healthcare team and supported by only a small team of skilled foreign staff members from various European nations, North America and Australasia. The team was tasked with delivering acute trans-cultural care, providing significant intercultural learning and education opportunities and absolute situational awareness. A key determinant from the case was the understanding that more education could be focused on ethical decision-making before, during, and after deployment that incorporates local cultural and political sensitivities. Fundamental to this experience is the recommendation from an organizational wellness perspective is to ensure the team debrief and decompress from such intense scenarios to help negotiate anxiousness, worry and helplessness.