Education and training of medical students for mass casualties situations

During the academic years I 9 75 and I 9 76 an interdisciplinary course in mass casualty management was given to sixth year medical students at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. The course included introductory lectures in definition of types of disasters, objectives in disaster intervention, description of local and national rescue organizations. Special importance was paid to mage of casualties and to a centralized system of evacuation from the disaster site. Further, hospital planning and deployment, stressing the role of the Emergency Room physician. The specific approach to multiple injuries including neurosurgical, orthopedic, abdominal, chest and soft tissue wounds was discussed in a panel meeting. Stress intervention and a comprehensive lecture on public health problems concluded this part of the course. The last half-day was devoted to a practical exercise, simulating a town severely damaged by an earthquake. Although the course was an elective one, it was extremely well attended by the students, and its implementation was enthusiastically performed by both teachers and students.