This December in Davos the AO will launch an educational event for Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) in Disasters and Conflicts as part of the Disaster Limb Injuries Project, which was supported by the AO Strategy Fund.
The objective of the course is to improve outcomes of patients suffering severe limb injury in disasters and complex emergencies by:
- differentiating between the different disaster and conflict situation environments,
- familiarizing the participants with the distinguishing injury patterns and pathology in conflicts and disasters and
- promoting adaption of clinical techniques to these situations that differ hugely from normal daily practice.
Are you interested in joining the EMT? Don't miss the chance to attend this unique course. The event is targeted at surgeons and other medical specialists with three to ten years of experience in trauma surgery, who aim to improve their knowledge and skills in the management of limb injuries in conflicts and disasters. The international faculty with a wealth of experience from many missions in disasters and conflicts each bring special and personal expertise to the project and are available to the participants for advice and support.
Highly interactive sessions will kick off the event, providing insights into surgical practice in austere environments, ballistics and blast injuries, how wounds and fractures differ in these situations, resus and damage control, anesthesia and emergency management, and logistics. The anatomical specimen lab on day two will cover debridement and wound management, fasciotomy, shunts, skin grafts and flaps as well as traction, and amputation. The last part of the course will focus on infectious disease, ethical dilemmas, and team dynamics, all of which present specific challenges in austere environments.
Further guidance can be found in the handbook 'Management of Limb Injuries during Disasters and Conflicts' which was launched by the ICRC, WHO, and AO Foundation in 2016 (available for download from www.aofoundation.org/icrc). The handbook is a hands-on field guide based on the consensus of 30 authors from the ICRC, WHO, MSF and others.
Chairpersons
Ian Norton, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland
Andreas Wladis, ICRC, Switzerland
Elhanan Bar-On, Israel Center for Humanitarian, Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Israel
Faculty
Inga Osmers, Germany
Alan Kay, United Kingdom
Waseem Saeed, United Kingdom
Michael Schütz, Germany
Please use the following link to learn about the handbook, Management of Limb Injuries during Disasters and Conflicts which was launched by the ICRC, WHO and AO Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland on December 16, 2016.
This year in Davos—
A Course for Emergency Medical Teams in Disasters and Conflicts
FacultyFocus 2-2017
AOTrauma
FacultyFocus
2-2017