THE care of paraplegics has always been a major nursing problem; many methods have been used, but most of these are difficult, complicated and time consuming. When, in 1937, an American, Dr. Homer Stryker of Michigan University, developed the Stryker frame he solved many of these nursing problems, and the U.S. Army and Naval hospitals proved its worth during the 1939-1945 world war. Today, Amer...

In 1954, O.G. Haywood used game theory to analyze the military decisions used in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, a battle fought during the World War II. Haywood analyzed the Battle of the Bismarck Sea by using a two-person zero-sum game [1]. This paper discusses the fundamental concepts of the two-person zero-sum game and some Nash Equilibrium dominance ideas as well as the strategies applied ...

BACKGROUND 'Forward psychiatry' was introduced by the French Army in 1915 to stem the loss of troops to base hospitals. Also known by the acronym PIE (proximity to the battle, immediacy of treatment and expectancy of recovery, including return to duty), it was subsequently used by the British and Americans in both World Wars. The US Army used PIE techniques in Korea and Vietnam. Although widely...

BACKGROUND This study aims to compare health status and quality of life five years after a road accident between casualties with whiplash versus other mild injuries, to compare evolution of quality of life at 1 and 5 years after the accident, and to explore the relation between initial injury (whiplash vs. other) and quality of life. METHODS The study used data from the ESPARR cohort (a repre...

With chemical warfare becoming an imminent threat, medical systems need to be prepared to treat the resultant mass casualties. Medical preparedness should not be limited to the triage and logistics of mass casualties and first-line treatment, but should include knowledge and training covering the whole medical spectrum. In view of the unique characteristics of chemical warfare casualties the us...

Unfortunately, many persons are injured or killed during disasters. The problems of paper triage tags, which are widely used at disaster scenes, include an inability to show the current priorities of casualties and a failure to collect the physiological conditions of the casualties. To save lives, this paper proposes an electronic triage system that consists of two types of electronic triage ta...

INTRODUCTION Cervical spine fractures and dislocations are uncommon injuries that can have serious neurological consequences. These injuries require adequate stabilisation to prevent further spinal cord injury during transfer between hospitals. Evacuation often requires a combination of road ambulance, helicopter and fixed wing aircraft from military hospitals. This paper outlines the neck inju...

BACKGROUND US military burn casualties are evacuated to the US Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center in San Antonio, TX. Patients are transported by US Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Flight Teams, Air Force Critical Care Air Transport Teams, or routine aeromedical evacuation. This study characterizes the military burn casualties transported by each team and reports associate...

Heat illness in the Armed Forces is an emotive issue. No specific service-wide system currently exists to monitor the incidence of heat illness. Within British Forces Cyprus medical policy guidelines for physical activity at various Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) readings were issued in 1988. A local system for reporting heat casualties was introduced in August 1989. This paper examined retr...