Dear reader!
You are holding a textbook on Emergency Medicine, which has just been added to the academic curriculum of pre-diploma training of doctors.
The study of this discipline consists of two training modules: organization of care to victims of emergencies, and features of implementation of specific measures (clinical aspects).
Organization of medical aid to victims is detailed in special manuals. They include analysis of the regular structure of medical units, their equipment, principles of interaction, evaluation of medical and tactical situation, etc.
Our textbook has a different purpose: it is dedicated to the clinical aspects. At the same time, carrying out certain actions while providing care to victims is so closely related to organizational issues that the latter are also dealt with in the scope necessary for understanding. This applies primarily to the types of medical aid to victims, as well as the principles of diagnostic triage and evacuation.
Emergency medicine integrates the knowledge and skills that the student had to acquire by the final year of study, including those offered at clinical departments of a Medical University. Therefore, main attention is paid not to the theoretical part, but to the peculiarities of carrying out certain actions in case of mass casualty incident.
The textbook focuses on the competence corresponding to the level of a General practitioner; the emphasis is on providing medical aid in the pre-hospital period, i.e. until the victims are taken to hospital. The most important aspect of this course is teaching what is to be done on a scene of mass destruction. For this type of care the textbook contains detailed algorithms of actions covering all aspects from observing the rules of one?s own safety to specifics of transportation of victims to a hospital.