Objective To assess the acute high altitude sickness (AHAS) and its risk factors among public health emergency responders, so as to provide scientific proof for guaranteeing the safety and health of emergency rescue workers. Methods?The self-administered questionnaire aim at learning AHAS occurrence and its risk factors were distributed to 67 members from 4 teams at different altitudes selected among 35 rescue teams. The AHAS could be diagnosed by a total score of more than or equal to 5 within 3 days since arrival, as in the following detail: 1-3 score could be assigned in accordance with the following symptoms in degrees of the mild, moderate or severe, respectively: headache, nausea or vomiting, lassitude, dizziness and blurred vision, and sleep disorder; and 1 score could be assigned for each of the following symptoms: palpitation, shortness of breath, nosebleed, chest distress, diarrhea, constipation, cyanochroia of the lips, numbness in hands and feet, and dry cough. Results?A total of 54 among 67 (81%) responders completed the questionnaire, among whom 93% were males and the median age was 36 with the scope from 24 to 55, and 63% (34 respondents) developed AHAS. The univariate analysis showed that the altitude of the responders’ original residence (10 score for “lt;100 m” vs. 5.2 score for “gt;1 000 m”, P=0.005), experiences in high altitude areas (10 score for “having not” vs. 6.4 score for “having”, P=0.039), length of stay in an area over 2 000 m altitude before arrival (9.4 score for “≥3 days” vs. 5.7 score for “≤1 day”, P=0.011), luggage weight (9.8 score for “≥25 kg” vs. 5.5 score for “lt;25 kg”, P=0.002) were correlated with AHAS severity. The multivariate linear regression indicated that the lower altitude of the responders’ original residence and the short stay in an area over 2000m altitude before arrival were the factors influencing the severity of AHAS. The linear regression formulation was Y= 2.89 - 0.187 × the altitude of the responders’ original residence (pre 100m) + 2.43 × the length of stay in an area over 2000m altitude before arriving at Yushu (day). Conclusions?The past experiences and the pre-arrival preparation are critical factors of AHAS. Measures should be taken to protect the safety and health of responders dispatched to high altitude areas.
Objective To strengthen and improve the decision of emergency medical rescue and provide the experience for the world, the article evaluates the performance of emergency command in Yushu Earthquake.Methods All the materials seen during the first year after Yushu earthquake were collected, such as all documents, information notifications and work reports issued by the Central Government and the Ministry of Health, and all the information from the website of News Office of the State Council, Ministry of Health, State Seismology Bureau, Qinghai Provincial People’s Government, and Department of Health of Qinghai Province. The data were also searched from CNKI and descriptively analyzed after the retrospective study. Results Based on the experience from Wenchuan Earthquake, the emergency command in Yushu Earthquake was characterized by: a) Promptly starting a Level-1 response; b) Setting up and completing an integrated work mechanism of military, police and the local government; and c) Achieving an accurate command under the guidance of precise information. Conclusion As the successful precedent of large-scale medical and health rescue at the high-altitude area in the world, the experience of Yushu Earthquake supplements and enriches the Wenchuan’s, and provides references for both domestic and overseas disaster medical emergency response.
Earthquakes happened frequently and caused a lot of injuries and serious economic loss, which destroyed the ecological environment and challenged the ability and speed in human rescue, treatment, epidemic, and post-disaster reconstruction. This paper compared the medical rescue between Yushu earthquake and Wenchuan earthquake in order to summarize the experience, form the standard, and provide references for decision-making.
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit china again, 702 days after Wenchuan Earthquake at Yushu prefecture of Qinghai province, 4000 meters above sea level. Up to April 19th, the death toll climbed to 1706, with 256 missing and 12128 injured. West China Hospital, as a regional state-level hospital of Ministry of Health, organized the first batch of medical team with relief supplies at the first day after Yushu earthquake and rushed to Yushu taking part into the rescue effort in golden seventy-two hours. The second day after Yushu earthquake, medical apparatus and drugs valued 5,000,000 RMB were delivered to the rescue site and the second batch of medical team were positioned. Within thirty three hours after the earthquake, 102 people, including 93 earthquake related injuries and 9 armed police with severe altitude illness, were sent to our hospital by air in four batches successively. Based on the first-hand experience of medical rescue in Wenchuan Earthquake, a series of diagnosis and treatment criteria which were built and developed with evidence-based method, and “four concentration principles”, namely concentrating the wounded, concentrating the experts, concentrating resources, and concentrating treatments, our medical rescue in Yushu earthquake were carried out appropriately. Up to 12 am., April 19th, 93 cases from the disaster area have been treated, of whom 54 seriously wounded, 58 underwent operations and none death. The experience learnt from Wenchuan Earthquake have been used, improved and sublimated more rapidly, more appropriately, more effectively in the Yushu earthquake medical rescue.
Objective To examine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression for medical staffs who took part in rescue in the disaster area after Wenchuan Earthquake. Methods According to purpose sampling method, from June 12th to June 18th, we investigated the medical staffs in eight areas, and the total number was 500. The eight areas included Mianzhu, Deyang, Shifang, Chengdu, Mianyang, Pengzhou, Zitong, and Anxian. The survey tools were PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). After collecting all questionnaires, we divided 500 medical staffs into 2 groups, according to the fact whether the rescue was carried out in the disaster area or not. Results A total of 500 questionnaires were given to the subjects, of which 481 effective ones were collected, and the effective rate was about 96.2%. In addition, the prevalence of PTSD for overall was 23.3%, anxiety was 21.6%, depression was 49.9%, and the anxiety plus depression was 19.54%. At the same time, we found out the averages of PCL-C (48.29±29.90 vs. 34.76±18.03), PCL-C frequency (16.27±15.14 vs. 9.99±10.25), PCL-C severity (32.03±15.26 vs. 24.85±8.60), SAS primitive (37.39±10.35 vs. 32.22±7.61), SAS standard (46.73±12.94 vs. 40.27±9.51), SDS primitive (42.00±8.32 vs. 37.99±9.63), and SDS standard (52.50±10.39 vs. 47.48±11.92) were different. The medical staffs in the disaster area were under more severe conditions, and there were significant differences between the 2 groups. The prevalence of PTSD (28.52% vs. 16.59), anxiety (28.89% vs. 12.32%), depression (58.15% vs. 39.34%), and anxiety plus depression (26.67% vs. 10.43%) between the 2 groups was significantly different, and the disaster area was under severe conditions. Additionally, the prevalences at three levels within SAS and SDS were much higher in the disaster area. There were also significant differences. Conclusion The prevalences of PTSD, SAS, and SDS within medical staffs who took part in rescue in the disaster area after Wenchuan Earthquake are higher than in the non-disaster area. Therefore, we should work out mental intervention and rehabilitation project for medical staffs, especially those who took part in rescue in the disaster area. Finally, the medical staffs’ ability to copy with stress can be improved.
Shortly after Wenchuan earthquake, the leader group of the West China Second Hospital accurately defined the role of the hospital during the medical rescue work and ensured the safety of the inpatients. It cooperated with West China Hospital, going to the main battlefield to rescue the injured people, congregating the main medical resources to the disaster areas for medical rescue. The model of the hospital was immediately transformed from the regular state into a double-track emergent state. Scientific allocation and dispatch of the resources were ensured to meet the ever-changing demands from all levels of rescue work. Assembling the elite, 12 medical teams and 148 medical staff in all were dispatched to Beichuan, Mianyang, Shifang and Dujiangyan as well as other severe disaster areas. Up to June 2nd, 329 patients from the disaster area had been treated, of whom 132 were admitted into the inpatient department, no one died. Moreover, even during such a period of time, the routine medical service had been offered as regular to patients other than the wounded in the disaster.
During the medical rescue after the earthquake, the Security Department of West China Hospital understood those factors affecting the hospital safety in the earthquake disaster, established emergent communication platform and information release channel, and opened up special areas and passages for the wounded, so as to ensure smooth passages for the rescue work, security of disaster-relief materials as well as an orderly, safe and stable medical environment.
After the May 12th Wenchuan earthquake, the Department of Architecture and Operation of West China Hospital took prompt action to examine the damage of the hospital buildings. And then experts were invited to perform a safety evaluation of all the hospital buildings. Meanwhile, a real-time monitoring system was initiated to identify any subsequent damage caused by after-shocks. In timely response to the clinical demand, potential dangers were removed so as to ensure the medical rescue work for the wounded.
During the medical rescue of Wenchuan earthquake, on the condition of ensuring the security of producing environment and food, following the four concepts including standard production, instant cooling technology, networking management and nutrition guidance, the CPU of West China Hospital stopped the production of possibly uncontrolled food, developed a reasonable plan for materials in stock, reinforced the inspection of sources of raw materials and quality of food, adjusted styles of dishes, proviced made special food for the wounded and their relatives from different districts and nationalities, new dishes for the wounded and the medical staff, so as not only to assure the nutrition for the slightly wounded, but also to provide the individualized nutrition treatment for the severely wounded. A total of 70 077 person-times for the wounded from the disaster area (36 330 person-times for the wounded and 33 747 person-times for their family members), and 36 273 person-times for doctors and nurses have been served. Meanwhile, the food service has also been offered as regular to other patients and hospital staff, with a maximum of 18 372 person-times per day.