Objective To analyze retrospectively the overall situation of medical rescue in the Third People’s Hospital of Chengdu after the Wenchuan earthquake, so as to provide references for the emergency preparedness for the disaster of earthquake. Methods The analysis was based on the data provided by the Department of Information, the Medical Record Library, the Department of Emergency, the Department of Orthopaedics and other related departments of the Hospital up to 8 a.m. of July 12. The software of Microsoft EXCEL was used for data input, and SPSS 11.5 was used for statistical analysis. Results Up to July 12, 563 cases from the disaster area had been treated in the hospital, of whom 249 were admitted into the outpatient department and 314 into the inpatient department, including 287 men and 276 women, with a median age of 42 years (28, 57) in the outpatient department and a median age of 46 years (33, 65) in the inpatient department. The inpatients’ age was older than the outpatients’s (P=0.003). Most outpatients were sent to the hospital within the first 3 days after the quake (73.50%), while less than half of the inpatients were sent to the hospital during this period of time. The wounded were mainly from Dujiangyan, Aba Prefecture and Pengzhou, which was correlated with the transportation distance, the casualty and the condition of the local hospitals. The wounded were mainly admitted into the Departments of Orthopaedics (69.3%), Neurosurgery (15.6%) and General Surgery (3.7%). The total cost in the Department of Orthopaedics was the highest, followed by the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Department of Neurosurgery. However, the median cost in the ICU was the highest, followed by the Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Nephrology. Only 9 out of the 563 patients died, including 5 outpatients and 4 inpatients, of whom 8 deaths were due to craniocerebral injury and 1 died of crush syndrome. Conclusion Based on the data, it is of vital importance to develop an emergent plan for the medical rescue after an earthquake disaster, and to strengthen the reserve of medical supplies, personnel training, scientific field triage as well as the construction of information platforms.
Objective To retrospectively analyze the characteristics and death causes among the Wenchuan earthquake victims in The Third People’s Hospital of Chengdu so as to provide information for reducing mortality in future earthquake disasters. Methods The analysis was based on the data provided by the Department of Information, the Medical Record Library, and the Emergency Room of the hospital through July 12. Microsoft EXCEL was used for data input and SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analyses. Results Through July 12, 9 (1.57%) out of the 575 wounded patients died, comprising 3 males and 6 females. Of those, 5 died in the outpatient department. The death causes were all related to severe cerebral injuries. The other 4 died in the inpatient department and the death causes were related to severe underlying illnesses and infection. Conclusion Screening and early treatment for cerebral injuries is very important in the period directly following the earthquake. Later, more attention should be paid to the treatment of underlying illnesses as well as the prevention and control of infection.
Objective To analyze the spinal injury in Wenchuan earthquake and to investigate its cl inical features. Methods Data of 146 patients in Wenchuan earthquake with spinal injuries (79 males, 67 females; aged 11-88 years old, average 51 years old) were collected and analyzed epidemiologically. Two patients under 16 years of age, 15 patients withthe fractures of spinous process, transverse process or vertebra lamina, 1 patient with spinal fractures of type A2 according to AO classification but no corresponding type in Denis classification, and 9 patients with upper cervical injuries were excluded. The remaining 119 patients were divided into two groups according to their age: group A in which 78 patients were under 60 years of age, including 40 males and 38 females aged 18-58 years old (average 41 years old), and group B in which 41 patients were 60 years of age or above, including 24 males and 17 females aged 60-88 years old (average 71 years old). Analyses for the two groups were compared. Results The leading causes of spinal injuries were fall from high places (27.40%) and crush by heavy objects (67.81%). According to Denis classification, the major types of spinal injuries were burst fracture (54.62%) and compression fracture (33.61%). Serious nerve injury, defined as grade A, B and C in ASIA neurological function assessment, occurred in 31.51% of patients. The most common injured site was in thoracic or lumbar vertebrae (78.77%), and 52.74% of patients had combined injuries, among which the fractures of l imb (30.14%) and rib (19.86%) were the most common. Multilevel spinal fractures happened to 22.60% of patients. Comparative analysis revealed the rate of injury caused by fall from high places in group A (34.62%) was much higher than that in group B (12.20%). The commonest type of fracture in group A was burst fracture (58.97%), and it was compression fracture in group B (48.78%). The rate of serious nerve injury in group B (24.39%) was much lower than that in group A (44.87%). The rate of combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury in group B was 70.73% and 39.02%, respectively, which was much higher than that in group A (combined injury 43.59%; multilevel vertebral body injury 21.79%). There were significant differences between two groups in all the indicators derived from cl inical data (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion In Wenchuan earthquake, the leading causes of spinal injuries are fall from high places and crush by heavy objects, the major types of fracture are compression fracture and burst fracture, and the occurrence rates of spinal injury, combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury are high.
After the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, a rapid response with emergency logistic support was the basis for medical rescue. This article describes the timely and scientific measures taken by the Department of Logistics of West China Hospital shortly after the Wenchuan earthquake, based on a series of workflows that were predefined to provide an emergency response for any unexpected events. This logistic workflow may contribute to the emergency response to similar unexpected events in the future.
Objective To analyze data for 1950 injured patients in the People’s Hospital of Deyang City following the Wenchuan earthquake, to provide relavent evidence to inform future decision-making in relation to establishing and improving frontline hospitals in disaster areas. Methods The basic situation of the wounded inpatients and the total situation of medical rescue were analyzed with data provided by the Department of Information at the hospital from May 12th to July 12th 2008. Microsoft EXCEL was used for data input and SPSS 11.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results By July 12th, a total of 1950 injured patients and 1378 inpatients had been treated in the hospital. Most inpatients were treated during the first week after the earthquake (about 65.6%), with the number of the inpatients reaching a peak of 703 on the first day, May 12th. The majority of the wounded inpatients were from the Mianzhu, Shifang and Jingyang districts of Deyang city. The diagnosis on admission included fracture (45.9%), craniocerebral injury (20.9%) and thoracoabdominal injury (14.7%). There were 48 deaths including 30 pre-hospital deaths, 10 emergency deaths and 8 inpatient deaths. There were 441 patients who were transported and transferred to the 2nd and 3rd hospitals from the People’s Hospital of Deyang City, which was the first hospital to organize the large-scale transporting of patients in the whole province. There were 1378 inpatients from the disaster area and 726 healthcare workers were sent to the disaster area to provide medical rescue. Psychological treatment was provided to more than 5000 inpatients, inhabitants, healthcare workers and army members. Conclusion The People’s Hospital of Deyang City successfully has accomplished a difficult task as the hospital nearest to the disaster area and played an important role during emergency medical rescue.
This article introduces the measures that the scientific research base of West China Hospital has taken in its emergent response to the unexpected huge Wenchuan earthquake disaster, including safe evacuation, safety examination and removal of hidden dangers, damage reporting and a series of subsequent measures.
Objective To study the medication usage in children with crush syndrome in Wenchuan Earthquake. Methods The information of the medications of 7 children with crush syndrome in West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University was collected by medical history. The cases and times of medication, the total number of drugs, the drug cost per capita and the drug cost per day were calculated by Excel. Results A total of 113 drugs in 19 categories were appl ied to 7 children with crush syndrome. Most children used Vitamins and antibacterial agents. The cost of gamma globul in injection was the highest. Conclusions The rational ity valuation for children medication lacks international vulgate index and needs more basic research.
Shortly after the Wenchuan earthquake, we established headquarter of crisis intervention, which was responsible for reporting earthquake situation and training personnel to carry out psychological intervention and publicize earthquake-related knowledge. Then, urgent psychological intervention was provided to the target populations. We offered crisis intervention more than 100 times (40,000 person-times), provided individualized psychological services or therapies over 3,000 person-times and treated more than 200 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Meanwhile, we established relevant administration systems including registration, reporting, rapid screening and personnel work logs. Our preliminary survey conducted 1 month after the earthquake showed that the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder reached 43%. After the earthquake, the victims’ emotions of depression and anxiety were raised and the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder had a sharp increase. The victims’ requirements for psychological crisis intervention after earthquake were immense.
Objective To analyze retrospectively the overall situation of medical rescue in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University after the Wenchuan earthquake, so as to provide references for the emergency preparation for the disaster of earthquake. Methods Analysis was based on the data provided by the Department of Information, the Medical Record Library, the Department of Emergency, the Department of Orthopaedics and other related departments of the hospital. The software Microsoft EXCEL was used for data management, and SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results From May 22 to May 26, 91 cases from the disaster area had been treated in the hospital, of which 90 were from Mianyang and 1 from Chengdu. These patients included 44 males with a median age of 38 (27, 53) years old and 47 females with a median age of 51 (33, 62) years old. Most patients were sent to the hospital within the first 10 or 11 days after the earthquake, with 86.8% hospitalized after 10 days and 22.0% after 11 days. The number of outpatients reached its peak of 37.1% of all the outpatients (33 cases) within 34 days after the earthquake. The wounded were mainly admitted into the Department of Orthopaedics, with 34.81% of the patients having lower limb fracture, 18.26% having spine fracture, and 12.59% suffering pelvis fracture. Only 2 out of the 89 patients died. One death was due to 60% burning injury and 1 died of multiple catastrophic injuries. Conclusion Based on the data, it is important to develop an emergent plan for medical rescues after an earthquake disaster and to strengthen the reserve of medical supplies, personnel training, scientific field triage and the construction of information platforms.
Objective According to characteristics of the wounded, we discussed the key points of Triage Algorithm during the large scale disasters occurring. It will provide some suggestion for establ ishment the triage process, matching with reasonable medical resources on time and making medical care promotion. Method Analysis the data of patients sent to emergency department of West China Hospital in different periods after temblor, and make conclusion on alternation of the triage process. Result A total of 2621 wounded people have been treated in West China Hospital three weeks after earthquake. The severity of patients in a seimic disaster sent to hospital changed as time went on. The percentage of skin and soft tissue injuries and l imbs fractures is 45%. The percentage of crush injury is 4.3%. There are five cases of gas gangrene and none of hospital cross-infection. Conclusion Triage the victims after earthquake dynamically increases the survival rate and decreases the mortal ity and overtriage rate, the key process of triage systems should be modified dynamically with characters alternation of the victims after China Wenchuan earthquake, the rescue level and effect can be made progress.