Untersuchung zur Einbindung des Öffentlichen ...

In medical school, a long-lived and effective solution can be achieved by
implementation of an independent lecture series on “Catastrophe Medicine”. Here,
the basics of medical, operative, and legal issues which are essential for
catastrophe and disaster preparedness and response should be taught.
It is an absolute necessity to integrate the main contents of catastrophe and disaster
medicine into the postgraduate education for the boards of public health care
physicians. A 120-h program curriculum is proposed that should be taught within
a three-week period as intensive training in all basic aspects of catastrophe and
disaster medicine described as essential in the literature, but also including special
instructions that were independtly requested by the GPHS physicians.
According to the data of our survey, the GPHS physicians are very much interested
in a more comprehensive professional training program for catastrophe
preparedness, and they are willing to go through it. National and – wishfully as
well international – academies must supply public health service physicians with
contents of knowledge and experience needed for operative and medical
management of catastrophes so that tailored responses of the public health service
physicians in case of incidents become feasible.
3.6 Concepts for an Expansion of Physicians’ Competence in the
German Public Health Service for Planning, Preparedness, and
Procedures in Response to Catastrophes and Disasters
Every GPHS physician holds a generally valid knowledge of the basics of
catastrophe and disaster medicine, gained in medical school, postgraduate
education for the boards and adequate optional training. To immediately manage
catastrophes, disasters, major damaging incidents and specific situations, further
information is easily accessible. The GPHS physician knows the possible locations
and devices for rapid knowledge gain and is capable of using them. On one hand,
as a source of information, a local knowledge data bank is provided in every public
health service communal building. On the other hand, offices of contact will be
set up in existing centres of excellence for expert knowledge and in specific centres
with special competences to be established that will serve as partners to ask for
advice and further guiding professional expert knowledge. By means of qualifying
all GPHS physicians in catastrophe and disaster medicine basics, it is achieved that
in case of need every GPHS physician may carry out certain first, in the incident
of a catastrophe necessary, broad-scale principle tasks within a permanent on-call
or out-of-house on-call schedule. With regard to the basic skills and capabilities
to be taught and the efforts every GPHS physician would have to undertake to
participate in such a basic response training program, both program fashion and
extent should be within realistic possibilities to be implemented as a frame model.
The offices of contact for gain of information that would have to be created for
the GPHS physician should serve as further guiding information resources and
should provide current basics of knowledge, background knowledge and – in case
of special questions – should supply specific experience and recommendations to
find out problem solutions. Thus, every GPHS physicians should be capable of
responding in an appropriate way in a specific situation.
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