DISASTER MEDICINE |
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Disaster Medicine - develop, and maintain a national capability to deliver quality medical care to the victims of - and responders to - a domestic disaster. NDMS provides state of the art medical care under any conditions at a disaster site, in transit from the impacted area, and into participating definitive care facilities.
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EMERGENCY MEDICAL SYSTEMS |
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The Emergency Medical Service system (known by the acronym "EMS" in the USA and Canada) is responsible for providing pre-hospital (or out-of-hospital) care by paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMT's), and medical first responders (MFRs in US terminology). The goal of EMS is to provide early treatment to those in need of urgent medical care, and ultimately rapid transportation to an Emergency department. Stabilizing patients early (within the golden hour) significantly increases their chances of survival, particularly in the event of a heart attack, diabetic emergency, or severe physical trauma.
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EMS - Emergency Medical Service |
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The Emergency Medical Service system (known by the acronym "EMS" in the USA and Canada) is responsible for providing pre-hospital (or out-of-hospital) care by paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMT's), and medical first responders (MFRs in US terminology). The goal of EMS is to provide early treatment to those in need of urgent medical care, and ultimately rapid transportation to an Emergency department. Stabilizing patients early (within the golden hour) significantly increases their chances of survival, particularly in the event of a heart attack, diabetic emergency, or severe physical trauma.
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STROKE |
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A stroke, also known as cerebrovascular accident (CVA), is an acute neurologic injury whereby the blood supply to a part of the brain is interrupted, either by a clot in the artery or if the artery bursts. The result is that the part of the brain perfused by that artery no longer can receive oxygen carried by the blood and it dies (becomes necrotic) with cessation of function from that part of the brain. In addition to tissue death, hemorrhages also cause damage from physical impingement of blood on the brain tissue. Stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurologic damage or even death if not promptly diagnosed and treated. It is the third leading cause of death and adult disability in the US and industrialized European nations (Jauch, 2005).
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TRAUMA |
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Physical trauma, an often serious and body-altering physical injury, such as the removal of a limb.
Psychological trauma, an emotional or psychological injury, usually resulting from an extremely stressful, life-threatening, or spirit-murdering situations.
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URGENT / EMERGENCY CARE |
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Urgent care is the delivery of ambulatory care in a facility dedicated to the delivery of unscheduled, walk-in care outside of a hospital emergency department. The initial urgent care centers opened in the 1970s. Since then this sector of the healthcare industry has rapidly expanded to an approximately 17,000 centers. Many of these centers have been started by entrepreneurial physicians who have responded to the public need for convenient access to unscheduled medical care. Other centers have been opened by hospital systems, seeking to attract patients. Much of the growth of these centers has been fueled by the significant savings that urgent care centers provide over the care in a hospital emergency department. Many managed care organizations (MCOs) now encourage their customers to utilize the urgent care option.
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