National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module V: respiratory system.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module VI: cardiovascular system.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module VII: central nervous system.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module VIII: soft tissue injuries.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module IX: musculoskeletal.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module X: medical emergencies.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module XI: obstetric/gynecologic emergencies.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module XII: pediatrics and neonatal.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module XIII: management of the emotionally disturbed.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module XIV: rescue techniques.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module XV: telemetry and communications.

Mode of access: Internet.

Basic training course/ emergency medical technician. Instructor's lesson plans. Second edition.

Mode of access: Internet.

Training program for operation of emergency vehicles : instructor lesson plans.

Bibliography: p. 1-3 - 1-8.

"The need obliged us" : culture as capacity during the Hurricane Stan emergency response. A case study from Tectitan, Huehuetenango, Guatemala

A major deficiency in disaster management plans is the assumption that pre-disaster civil-society does not have the capacity to respond effectively during crises. Following from this assumption a dominant emergency management strategy is to replace weak civil-society organizations with specialized disaster organizations that are often either military or Para-military and seek to centralize decision-making. Many criticisms have been made of this approach, but few specifically addresses disasters in the developing world. Disasters in the developing world present unique problems not seen in the developed world because they often occur in the context of compromised governments, and marginalized populations. In this context it is often community members themselves who possess the greatest capacity to respond to disasters. This paper focuses on the capacity of community groups to respond to disaster in a small town in rural Guatemala. Key informant interviews and ethnographic observations are used to reconstruct the community response to the disaster instigated by Hurricane Stan (2005) in the municipality of Tectitán in the Huehuetenango department. The interviews were analyzed using techniques adapted from grounded theory to construct a narrative of the events, and identify themes in the community’s disaster behavior. These themes are used to critique the emergency management plans advocated by the Guatemalan National Coordination for the Reduction of Disasters (CONRED). This paper argues that CONRED uncritically adopts emergency management strategies that do not account for the local realities in communities throughout Guatemala. The response in Tectitán was characterized by the formation of new organizations, whose actions and leadership structure were derived from “normal” or routine life. It was found that pre-existing social networks were resilient and easily re-oriented meet the novel needs of a crisis. New or emergent groups that formed during the disaster utilized social capital accrued by routine collective behavior, and employed organizational strategies derived from “normal” community relations. Based on the effectiveness of this response CONRED could improve its emergency planning on the local-level by utilizing the pre-existing community organizations rather than insisting that new disaster-specific organizations be formed.

Factors associated with hospital admission of elder cardiovascular patients in an emergency center

Context. Healthcare utilization of elder cardiovascular patients in United States will increase in near future, due to an aging population. This trend could burden urban emergency centers, which have become a source of primary care. ^ Objective. The objective of this study was to determine the association of age, gender, ethnicity, insurance and other presenting variables on hospital admission in an emergency center for elder cardiovascular patients. ^ Design, setting and participants. An anonymous retrospective review of emergency center patient login records of an urban emergency center in the years 2004 and 2005 was conducted. Elder patients (age ≥ 65 years) with cardiovascular disease (ICD91 390-459) were included. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent factors for hospital admission. Four major cardiovascular reasons for hospitalisation – ischemic heart disease, heart failure, hypertensive disorders and stroke were analysed separately. ^ Results. The number of elder patients in the emergency center is increasing, the most common reason for their visit was hypertension. Majority (59%) of the 12,306 elder patients were female. Forty five percent were uninsured and 1,973 patients had cardiovascular disease. Older age (OR 1.10; CI 1.02-1.19) was associated with a marginal increase in hospital admission in elder stroke patients. Elder females compared to elder males were more likely to be hospitalised for ischemic heart disease (OR 2.71; CI 1.22-6.00) and heart failure (OR 1.58; CI 1.001-2.52). Furthermore, insured elder heart failure patients (OR 0.54; CI 0.31-0.93) and elder African American heart failure patients (OR 0.32; CI 0.13-0.75) were less likely to be hospitalised. Ambulance use was associated with greater hospital admissions in elder cardiovascular patients studied, except for stroke. ^ Conclusion. Appropriate health care distribution policies are needed for elder patients, particularly elder females, uninsured, and racial/ethnic minorities. These findings could help triage nurse evaluations in emergency centers to identify patients who were more likely to be hospitalised to offer urgent care and schedule appointments in primary care clinics. In addition, health care plans could be formulated to improve elder primary care, decrease overcrowding in emergency centers, and decrease elder healthcare costs in the future. ^