The Turkish Earthquake: Adapting a Relevant Medical Relief Response Mode.

On February 6, 2023, a Mw 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria. Over 50 000 people were confirmed dead, and nearly 130 000 were injured.

The impact of minor trauma during pregnancy on maternal and neonatal outcomes: A tertiary centre experience.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of minor trauma during pregnancy on maternal and fetal outcomes in patients managed in a tertiary setting.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective single centre case-controlled study was performed between 2005 and 2017 in a university affiliated tertiary obstetric and trauma centre. All pregnant women of 13-36 weeks gestation that presented to the department of emergency medicine with an Injury Severity Score of <9 were identified.

Mixed effect of increasing outflow of medical patients from an emergency department.

Background And Aim: Since 2014, the annual number of patients entering our emergency department (ED) has increased significantly. These were primarily Internal Medicine (IM) patients, and of these, 25-30% were admitted. The present governmental policy presents a deterrent to adding IM beds for these patients, and Emergency and IM departments cope with ever-increasing number of IM patients.

Implementing the Sphere Project's standards for patient's healthcare rights in the disaster zone: The experience of the Israeli field hospital in post-quake Nepal.

Emergency medical teams (EMTs) encounter chaos upon arriving at the scene of a disaster. Rescue efforts are utilitarian and focus on providing the technical aspects of medical care in order to save the most lives at the expense of the individual. This often neglects the basic healthcare rights of the patient.

The spectrum of bacteria and mechanisms of resistance identified from the casualties treated in the Israeli field hospital after the earthquake in Nepal, 2015: A retrospective analysis.

Background: On the April 25, 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. Soon-after, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) dispatched a tertiary field-hospital to Kathmandu.

Internet-delivered computerized cognitive & affective remediation training for the treatment of acute and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: Two randomized clinical trials.

Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is time and cost-intensive. New, readily implementable interventions are needed. Two parallel randomized clinical trials tested if cognitive/affective computerized training improves cognitive/affective functions and PTSD symptoms in acute (N = 80) and chronic PTSD (N = 84).

Emergency with Resiliency Equals Efficiency - Challenges of an EMT-3 in Nepal.

The 7.8 MW (moment magnitude scale) earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015 caused significant casualties and serious damage to infrastructure.The Israeli Emergency Medical Team (IEMT; later verified as EMT-3) was deployed 80 hours after the earthquake.

Cognitive Flexibility Predicts PTSD Symptoms: Observational and Interventional Studies.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent, severe and tenacious psychopathological consequence of traumatic events. Neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying PTSD pathogenesis have been identified, and may serve as risk-resilience factors during the early aftermath of trauma exposure. Longitudinally documenting the neurobehavioral dimensions of early responses to trauma may help characterize survivors at risk and inform mechanism-based interventions.

Challenges in Implementing International Standards for the Field Hospital Emergency Department in a Disaster Zone: The Israeli Experience.

Background: Medical response to world disasters has too often been poorly coordinated and nonprofessional. To improve this, several agencies, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), have developed guidelines to provide accreditation for Foreign Medical Teams (FMTs). There are three levels, with the highest known as FMT Type-3 providing outpatient as well as inpatient surgical emergency care in addition to inpatient referral care.

Outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve implantation compared with surgical aortic valve replacement in geriatric patients with chronic kidney disease .

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a less invasive treatment modality for patients with severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) who are at a higher risk if they have surgery. Preoperative chronic kidney disease (CKD) influences outcomes of cardiac surgery and is associated with a higher mortality and more complicated hospital course. The aims of our study were to evaluate the comparative outcomes of TAVI versus surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in geriatric patients with preoperative CKD.

Hyponatremia Predicts Poor Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease Undergoing Heart Operation.

Background: Preoperative hyponatremia adversely affects outcomes of cardiothoracic operation. However, in patients with chronic kidney disease, the association of sodium levels on postoperative events has never been evaluated. We investigated the impact of preoperative hyponatremia on outcomes after cardiac operation in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease.

Evaluating web-based cognitive-affective remediation in recent trauma survivors: study rationale and protocol.

: The immediate aftermath of traumatic events is a period of enhanced neural plasticity, following which some survivors remain with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) whereas others recover. Evidence points to impairments in emotional reactivity, emotion regulation, and broader executive functions as critically contributing to PTSD. Emerging evidence further suggests that the neural mechanisms underlying these functions remain plastic in adulthood and that targeted retraining of these systems may enhance their efficiency and could reduce the likelihood of developing PTSD.

Deployment of field hospitals to disaster regions: Insights from ten medical relief operations spanning three decades.

Objective: The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Medical Corps developed a model of airborne field hospital. This model was structured to deal with disaster settings, requiring self-sufficiency, innovation and flexible operative mode in the setup of large margins of uncertainty regarding the disaster environment. The current study is aimed to critically analyze the experience, gathered in ten such missions worldwide.

Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio: Prognostic Impact in Heart Surgery. Early Outcomes and Late Survival.

Background: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a recognized marker of inflammation associated with poor outcomes in various clinical situations. We analyzed the prognostic significance of preoperative elevated NLR in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 3,027 consecutive patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Preoperative aldosterone receptor blockade and outcomes of cardiac surgery in patients with chronic kidney disease .

Background And Aims: Recent clinical evidence demonstrates that chronic low-dose mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA), when added to optimal treatment, result in reductions in cardiovascular mortality. However, continuation of MRAs before cardiac surgery in patients with CKD has never been evaluated and its potential benefit or harm in this specific clinical setting is largely unknown.

Materials And Methods: This is an observational study that included adult CKD patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Terrorist Stabbings-Distinctive Characteristics and How to Prepare for Them.

Background: The number of terror attack incidents is on the increase worldwide. The knife is one of the weapons most commonly used among terrorists. Appropriate preparation in trauma units for coping with the increasing numbers of terrorist-inflicted stabbings is different from the preparation suitable for civilian stabbings.

Morbidity among the Israeli Defense Force response team during Nepal, post-earthquake mission, 2015.

Background: On 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. Soon after, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) dispatched a rapid-response team and opened a tertiary field hospital in Kathmandu.

Facilitating emergency hospital evacuation through uniform discharge criteria.

Background: Though hospitals' operational continuity is crucial, full institutional evacuation may at times be unavoidable. The study's objective was to establish criteria for discharge of patients during complete emergency evacuation and compare scope of patients suitable for discharge pre/post implementation of criteria.

Basic Procedures: Standards for patient discharge during an evacuation were developed based on literature and disaster managers.

Untreated Mitral Regurgitation Does Not Affect Survival of Elderly Patients Undergoing TAVI.

Background: The study aim was to examine the impact of concomitant significant mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). TAVI has become an acceptable mode of treatment for high-surgical risk patients with aortic stenosis (AS) requiring valve replacement. A significant number of patients have concomitant MR which cannot be addressed by TAVI alone, and therefore may not be considered candidates for this procedure.

Glasgow Coma Scale Score in Survivors of Explosion With Possible Traumatic Brain Injury in Need of Neurosurgical Intervention.

Importance: Head injury following explosions is common. Rapid identification of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in need of neurosurgical intervention is complicated in a situation where multiple casualties are admitted following an explosion.

Objective: To evaluate whether Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score or the Simplified Motor Score at presentation would identify patients with severe TBI in need of neurosurgical intervention.

Ethical and Surgical Dilemmas in Patients with Neglected Surgical Diseases Visiting a Field Hospital in a Zone of Recent Disaster.

Object: The massive typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) ripped across the central Philippines on November 8, 2013, and damaged infrastructure including hospitals. The Israeli Defense Forces field hospital was directed by the Philippine authorities to Bogo City in the northern part of the island of Cebu, to assist the damaged local hospital. Hundreds of patients with neglected diseases sought for medical treatment which was merely out of reach for them.

[LESSONS FROM PREPAREDNESS OF HOSPITALS TO SNOWSTORMS].

Snowstorms are not a usual scene in Israel, which normally enjoys relatively warm weather, even in the winter. In the last two years we faced three severe snowstorms that had a major impact on the routine daily life in Israel. Roads were blocked, people experienced long electricity power failures, and secondary to slippery conditions, there was more than a threefold increase of orthopedic injuries.

Improvised Neonatal Care-Realizing the Gaps in a Disaster Zone.

The treatment of newborns in a disaster zone can be extremely challenging. The effects of the disaster combine with local health care disparity to give these neonates little chance of survival in the event of even minor complications. Rescue teams arriving at such locations must be prepared to handle and to aid these difficult situations using improvisation and ingenuity to overcome many of the unexpected hurdles.