In the rescue that follows a major natural disaster, blood donation is a unique, necessary method to assist the injured. To achieve effective assurance of the blood supply for medical rescue in an orderly fashion, the current procedure must be adjusted by using scientific prediction, analysis, and adaptation. After the process of ensuring the blood supply for medical rescue during the Wenchuan Earthquake, the Ministry of Health of China, with great efforts, continues to investigate and reflect upon the application of the above principals during actual practice. Objectively, these efforts will lead to better results and establish a standard supplying blood during a disaster rescue.
Objective To analyze the performance of epidemic prevention in Sichuan Province after Wenchuan earthquake, so as to provide references for future epidemic prevention when such emergencies occur. Methods Data about the relief work after the Wenchuan earthquake were collected from the archives of medical care assurance group of the anti-seismic and disaster relief headquarter. And then the data were classified and analyzed. Results After the Wenchuan earthquake, the strategies of epidemic prevention included emphasis on both epidemic prevention and medical relief, early implementation of hygienic measures, wide coverage of different measures for disease prevention with focuses on the most important diseases, as well as standardization and long lasting of epidemic prevention efforts. Owing to these strategies, the epidemic prevention in Sichuan Province was conducted vigorously, orderly and effectively. Conclusion The post-quake epidemic prevention strategies in Sichuan Province are accurate and effective, which could be recommended when such emergencies occur in the future.
Objective To systematically analyze and compare the casualties’ medical evacuation (ME) in Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes, so as to provide useful references for earthquake casualties’ ME in the future. Methods The data about casualties’ ME in Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes were collected from the field research, work statement of the Ministry of Health, official websites, and literatures. And the descriptive analysis was then performed. Results From Wenchuan to Yushu, the principle of ME tended to be “early evacuation, all evacuation”; the evacuation level was gradually simplified, the casualties were evacuated directly from the disaster area to the rear hospital through highway and railway, or air evacuation became the major method of ME; triage became less prominent, while specialist treatment was strived as early as possible. Conclusion The early establishment of appropriate evacuation principles, building of a simplified evacuation system, ensuring adequate medical transport capacity, and scientific assessment of treatment capacity at all levels are the main issues of effective and safe ME after earthquakes that require to be solved urgently.
ObjectiveTo carry out an investigation on the life quality of amputees in the “5·12” Wenchuan earthquake before and after rehabilitation of one year (short term), three year (intermediate term) and five year (long term) and find out the best program of recovery. MethodsIn September 2008, 52 patients who were treated in the higher-level hospital and came back to the Second People’s Hospital of Mianzhu City for rehabilitation were divided into two groups: group A and B with 26 patients in each. Phased rehabilitation program was adopted for group A while traditional program was chosen for patients in group B. “The Personal Information Table of Amputees of Deyang City” and The Life Quality Measurement Table of World Health Organization were chosen as the research tools before the program and one year, three years and five years after the program. ResultScores of the life quality of both groups showed a general rising tendency, while group A was higher than group B in each single phase, especially in the longterm one. For positive feeling, group A got a score of 193.0±12.3 and group B got 126.0±11.2; for ability to work, group A had a score of 62.0±5.2 and group B had 41.0±2.3; for life satisfaction, group A achieved 150.0±2.1 and group B achieved 101.0±6.2; for ability of action, the score of group A was 17.0±2.6 and group B was 11.0±5.2. The differences were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05) . ConclusionCompared with conventional rehabilitation program, phased rehabilitation program can better enhance and consolidate the amputees’ quality of life and promote their returning to family and society, which can make up for the deficiency of the existing rehabilitation programs and is worth popularization and application.
Objective To analyze the spinal injury in Wenchuan earthquake and to investigate its cl inical features. Methods Data of 146 patients in Wenchuan earthquake with spinal injuries (79 males, 67 females; aged 11-88 years old, average 51 years old) were collected and analyzed epidemiologically. Two patients under 16 years of age, 15 patients withthe fractures of spinous process, transverse process or vertebra lamina, 1 patient with spinal fractures of type A2 according to AO classification but no corresponding type in Denis classification, and 9 patients with upper cervical injuries were excluded. The remaining 119 patients were divided into two groups according to their age: group A in which 78 patients were under 60 years of age, including 40 males and 38 females aged 18-58 years old (average 41 years old), and group B in which 41 patients were 60 years of age or above, including 24 males and 17 females aged 60-88 years old (average 71 years old). Analyses for the two groups were compared. Results The leading causes of spinal injuries were fall from high places (27.40%) and crush by heavy objects (67.81%). According to Denis classification, the major types of spinal injuries were burst fracture (54.62%) and compression fracture (33.61%). Serious nerve injury, defined as grade A, B and C in ASIA neurological function assessment, occurred in 31.51% of patients. The most common injured site was in thoracic or lumbar vertebrae (78.77%), and 52.74% of patients had combined injuries, among which the fractures of l imb (30.14%) and rib (19.86%) were the most common. Multilevel spinal fractures happened to 22.60% of patients. Comparative analysis revealed the rate of injury caused by fall from high places in group A (34.62%) was much higher than that in group B (12.20%). The commonest type of fracture in group A was burst fracture (58.97%), and it was compression fracture in group B (48.78%). The rate of serious nerve injury in group B (24.39%) was much lower than that in group A (44.87%). The rate of combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury in group B was 70.73% and 39.02%, respectively, which was much higher than that in group A (combined injury 43.59%; multilevel vertebral body injury 21.79%). There were significant differences between two groups in all the indicators derived from cl inical data (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion In Wenchuan earthquake, the leading causes of spinal injuries are fall from high places and crush by heavy objects, the major types of fracture are compression fracture and burst fracture, and the occurrence rates of spinal injury, combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury are high.
Objective To analyze retrospectively the overall situation of medical rescue in the Third People’s Hospital of Chengdu after the Wenchuan earthquake, so as to provide references for the emergency preparedness for the disaster of earthquake. Methods The analysis was based on the data provided by the Department of Information, the Medical Record Library, the Department of Emergency, the Department of Orthopaedics and other related departments of the Hospital up to 8 a.m. of July 12. The software of Microsoft EXCEL was used for data input, and SPSS 11.5 was used for statistical analysis. Results Up to July 12, 563 cases from the disaster area had been treated in the hospital, of whom 249 were admitted into the outpatient department and 314 into the inpatient department, including 287 men and 276 women, with a median age of 42 years (28, 57) in the outpatient department and a median age of 46 years (33, 65) in the inpatient department. The inpatients’ age was older than the outpatients’s (P=0.003). Most outpatients were sent to the hospital within the first 3 days after the quake (73.50%), while less than half of the inpatients were sent to the hospital during this period of time. The wounded were mainly from Dujiangyan, Aba Prefecture and Pengzhou, which was correlated with the transportation distance, the casualty and the condition of the local hospitals. The wounded were mainly admitted into the Departments of Orthopaedics (69.3%), Neurosurgery (15.6%) and General Surgery (3.7%). The total cost in the Department of Orthopaedics was the highest, followed by the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Department of Neurosurgery. However, the median cost in the ICU was the highest, followed by the Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Nephrology. Only 9 out of the 563 patients died, including 5 outpatients and 4 inpatients, of whom 8 deaths were due to craniocerebral injury and 1 died of crush syndrome. Conclusion Based on the data, it is of vital importance to develop an emergent plan for the medical rescue after an earthquake disaster, and to strengthen the reserve of medical supplies, personnel training, scientific field triage as well as the construction of information platforms.
Objective To evaluate the psychological trauma incurred by the people in wenxian after the Wenchuan earthquake so as to provide relevant information for psychological and medical interventions. Methods Thepsychological state of the people after the earthquake was investigated using a mental health self-assessment questionnaire, self-rating anxiety scale, and self-rating depression scale. Results We found: 56.0% of the respondents were not happy, 39.6% often cried bitterly, 56.7% felt pain, 40.7% lost interest, 69.2% felt uneasy, nervous, or worried, and 27.0% would like to end their lives; the SDS scores (56.48±110.43) and SAS scores (39.88±11.38) of the people were significantly higher than those of the national norms (Plt;0.001). The following symptons appeared: 59.3% had headache, 50.5% poor appetite, poor sleeping 56.0%, 58.2% were easily frightened, tremors 29.7%, 50.5% dyspepsia, 42.9% thoughts fuzzy, 60.4% stomach discomfort, fatigue 85.7%. Conclusion The earthquake disaster brought about serious psychological harm to people. It is necessary to strengthen post-earthquake psychological relief and strengthen interventions in order to reduce the psychological suffering of victims.
To investigate the method of using vacuum seal ing drainage (VSD) technique to repair the wound of the injured in Wenchuan earthquake and its therapeutic effect. Methods From May 12, 2008 to June 12, 2008, 52 injured persons (83 wounds) were treated, including 27 males and 25 females aged 11-83 years old (average 42 years old). There were 22 cases of crush injury, 9 cases of contusion and laceration injury, 17 cases of compression injury receiving incision decompression of fascia compartment and 4 cases of open amputation. And 37 wounds were on the leg, 13 woundson the thigh, 17 wounds on the forearm, 11 wounds on the upper arm and 5 wounds on the trunk. The wound ranged from3 cm × 2 cm to 30 cm × 15 cm, and the time from injury to undergoing VSD treatment was 12 hours-18 days. After complete debridement, the wound was covered by VSD dressing, and antibiotics were given according to the result of drug sensitive test. When wound infection was under control and granulation tissues grew well, the method of either direct suture or skin grafting or flap transposition was used to repair the wounds. Results In 21 cases (40.4%), wound secretion smear was positive, and multiple species of bacteria were detected, such as staphylococcus aureus, escherichia col i, proteus and klebsiella pneumoniae. After initial operation, 7 injured persons were transferred to the hospital outside of Sichuan province for further treatment. VSD treatment was performed on 33 cases (45 wounds) once, 6 cases (10 wounds) twice, 2 cases (3 wounds) three times and 1 case (1 wound) four times, resulting in the control of wound infection and the growth of granulation tissue. Then the wounds were repaired by either direct suture or skin grafting or flap transposition. Three cases (4 wounds) underwent VSD treatment ten times, leading to the control of infection and the stabil ity of condition. Conclusion VSD treatment can cover the wound promptly, el iminate contamination, prevent secondary infection and benefit late-stage wound repair. During the process of treatment, no medical necessity for frequent change of dressing can rel ieve the pain suffered by the injured and decrease theworkload of medical stuff, thus facil itating the rescue work.
Objective To evaluate the performance on the project of health system recovery using World Bank loan for ‘5.12’ Wenchuan earthquake after three years of these projects have been finished. Methods From March to December 2016, we formulated evaluation frameworks and indicators, used statistical reports and surveys to collect data of the 60 post-earthquake recovery projects using World Bank loan in Chengdu, Deyang and some other cities. Data of pre-earthquake (2007) and post-earthquake (2015) were compared. The evaluation indicators included institutional size, institutional environment, institutional services and social benefits. A descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0 software. Results Compared with the year of 2007, in 2015, the building and utilized for business purpose areas of loan benefited hospitals increased 4.49 and 3.58 times, respectively. The budgeted and actual beds count increased 43% and 55%, respectively. All inside structure and processes of hospitals were optimized, and green areas, parking slots and waiting areas increased greatly. Headcount of budgeted and actual increased 15.09% and 70.31%, respectively. Qualifications of healthcare technicians were improved in country level hospitals as well; there were more undergraduates and more senior competent personnel. In maternal and child health care hospitals and township hospitals, more diploma holders and personnel who had passed the middle level professional appraisals were observed. Numbers of hospital treatments, hospitalizations counts, numbers of surgeries performed increased 2.0, 2.1, and 2.0 times, respectively. Accuracy of diagnosis on hospitalized counts increased 3.12%. Utilizations of bed counts increased from 63.87% to 66.53%. The average duration of hospitalizations decreased from 7.36 days to 7.10 days. Numbers of clinical and surgery types increased 928 and 285, respectively. Both customer and staff satisfactory score reached 4.5 points in 2015. Conclusion The completed projects of health system recovery using World Bank loan for ‘5.12’ Wenchuan earthquake is running well, and meet the expectations.
Shortly after Wenchuan earthquake, the leader group of the West China Second Hospital accurately defined the role of the hospital during the medical rescue work and ensured the safety of the inpatients. It cooperated with West China Hospital, going to the main battlefield to rescue the injured people, congregating the main medical resources to the disaster areas for medical rescue. The model of the hospital was immediately transformed from the regular state into a double-track emergent state. Scientific allocation and dispatch of the resources were ensured to meet the ever-changing demands from all levels of rescue work. Assembling the elite, 12 medical teams and 148 medical staff in all were dispatched to Beichuan, Mianyang, Shifang and Dujiangyan as well as other severe disaster areas. Up to June 2nd, 329 patients from the disaster area had been treated, of whom 132 were admitted into the inpatient department, no one died. Moreover, even during such a period of time, the routine medical service had been offered as regular to patients other than the wounded in the disaster.