General Practitioners' Roles in Disaster Health Management: Perspectives of Disaster Managers.

Introduction: General Practitioners (GPs) are inevitably involved when disaster strikes their communities. Evidence of health care needs in disasters increasingly suggests benefits from greater involvement of GPs, and recent research has clarified key roles. Despite this, GPs continue to be disconnected from disaster health management (DHM) in most countries.

Disaster Management in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review.

Objective: This scoping review aims to map the roles of rural and remote primary health care professionals (PHCPs) during disasters.

Introduction: Disasters can have catastrophic impacts on society and are broadly classified into natural events, man-made incidents, or a mixture of both. The PHCPs working in rural and remote communities face additional challenges when dealing with disasters and have significant roles during the Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (PPRR) stages of disaster management.

Occupational injury risk among Australian paramedics: an analysis of national data.

Objective: To identify the occupational risks for Australian paramedics, by describing the rate of injuries and fatalities and comparing those rates with other reports.

Design And Participants: Retrospective descriptive study using data provided by Safe Work Australia for the period 2000-2010. The subjects were paramedics who had been injured in the course of their duties and for whom a claim had been made for workers compensation payments.

Universal access to ambulance does not increase overall demand for ambulance services in Queensland, Australia.

Objective: To determine the impact of the introduction of universal access to ambulance services via the implementation of the Community Ambulance Cover (CAC) program in Queensland in 2003-04.

Method: The study involved a 10-year (2000-01 to 2009-10) retrospective analysis of routinely collected data reported by the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) and by the Council of Ambulance Authorities. The data were analysed for the impact of policy changes that resulted in universal access to ambulance services in Queensland.

Hospital beds: a primer for counting and comparing.

There is considerable public, political and professional debate about the need for additional hospital beds in Australia. However, there is no clarity in regard to the definition, meaning and significance of hospital bed counts. Relative to population, there has been a total decline in bed availability in Australia over the past 15 years of 14.

Health impacts of floods.

Introduction: Floods are the most common hazard to cause disasters and have led to extensive morbidity and mortality throughout the world. The impact of floods on the human community is related directly to the location and topography of the area, as well as human demographics and characteristics of the built environment.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify the health impacts of disasters and the underlying causes of health impacts associated with floods.

A national framework for disaster health education in Australia.

Introduction: Recent events have heightened awareness of disaster health issues and the need to prepare the health workforce to plan for and respond to major incidents. This has been reinforced at an international level by the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, which has proposed an international educational framework.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to outline the development of a national educational framework for disaster health in Australia.

Chemical warfare and medical response during World War I.

The first large-scale use of a traditional weapon of mass destruction (chemical, biological, or nuclear) involved the successful deployment of chemical weapons during World War I (1914-1918). Historians now refer to the Great War as the chemist's war because of the scientific and engineering mobilization efforts by the major belligerents. The development, production, and deployment of war gases such as chlorine, phosgene, and mustard created a new and complex public health threat that endangered not only soldiers and civilians on the battlefield but also chemical workers on the home front involved in the large-scale manufacturing processes.