ICU Management & Practice, ICU Volume 6 - Issue 1 - Spring 2006
Haïti: Medicin
Sans Frontières
On August 2005 Medicine Sans Frontières (MSF) started an intervention in Cité Soleil, one of the most neglected and dangerous slums in Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital city, where 250,000 people live in poverty, violence and social instability. MSF re-opened Choscal Hospital (St. Catherine’s Hospital) and the Chapi Health Centre in the heart of Cité Soleil, where volunteer staff performed nearly 12,000 medical consultations and 800 emergency interventions during the first three months. At both sites, MSF collaborates with the staff of the Ministry of Health. During the last months of 2005, MSF has faced a huge increase in casualties of violence due to the intense fighting between local armed groups and UN troops of MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilizations Mission in Haiti). In Choscal Hospital, MSF volunteers treated 34 victims of gunshot in November 2005, 80 in December and 103 in January 2006. Half of the wounded were women, children or elderly.
Médecins Sans Frontières is a Non Governmental Organization and is looking for anaesthetists with knowledge of French to work at least one month on its project in Cité Soleil. Visit our website for more information: www.msf.be
UK: Critical
Care Contingency Planning
Bruce Taylor, Chair CCCP Group
The UK Intensive Care Society (ICS) and theDepartment of Health has established a workinggroup to plan for expansion of ICU capacity in the event of an infectious pandemic. The multidisciplinaryCritical Care Contingency Planning(CCCP) group has received valuable advice from colleagues in Hong Kong and Canada, who havelearned from experience with the SARS outbreaks.Potential options for expanding capacityby using other clinical areas such as theatrerecovery and high-dependency areas as surrogateICUs have been outlined, and an informationgathering questionnaire will assess existingpotential for ICU expansion. A draft document onphased responses / triaging has been produced.Outline plans have been developed for expandingcritical care nursing assistance, identifying operatingtheatre staff as being the most appropriatelyskilled for this purpose, and guidelines on corecompetencies for support staff training are being developed. The ICS is also working to produce a UK-specific core training programme in criticalcare for medical staff.
US: Family
Support® in NICUs
The March of Dimes NICU Family Support® project provides information and comfort tofamilies of premature and other critically ill newbornsin hospital-based neonatal intensive careunits (NICUs) throughout hospitalization, for thetransition home, and in the event of a newborndeath. Currently, NICU Family Support® isbeing implemented in 23 hospitals in the US,and is planned for 38 hospitals by the end of2006. The service will be offered in at least 50NICUs by 2007. The project includes educationand activities for siblings, parent-to-parent support,photography, professional developmentopportunities for NICU staff, and bereavementprograms. The March of Dimes is a national notfor-profit health agency whose mission is toimprove the health of babies by preventing birthdefects, premature birth and infant mortality.NICU Family Support® is part of the March ofDimes Prematurity Campaign, which addressesthe growing problem of premature births, theleading cause of newborn death in the US.According to the latest government figures,more than 500,000 US babies -- or 1 in 8 – areborn prematurely each year. The most recentcollaborating site is Memorial Health University Medical Centre in Georgia. In 2003 alone, 17,762 babies were born prematurely in Georgia.
