The World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Initiative is an important mechanism for strengthening surge capacities for clinical care during public health emergencies (PHE) in West Africa. To enhance preparedness, response capacity, and resilience, the West African Health Organization (WAHO) helps countries to establish, manage, and strengthen essential EMT capacities with other partners.

We describe the EMT capacity-building experience in West Africa and highlight gaps and lessons learnt.

We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional assessment using data from regional and national EMT awareness workshops and other activities reports. We also administrated a questionnaire to a convenient sample of EMT stakeholders for identifying challenges and gaps in strengthening EMTs.

A total of 14 EMT awareness workshops have been performed in West Africa resulting in on-going implementation national actions plans. Member States were at different levels of implementation of their EMT’s action plan. Only one National EMT is fully operational. The main challenges in EMT implementation included lack of political will, lack of skilled workforce, lack of guidelines for developing SOPs, and inadequate funding for EMT operations. A total of 606 health workers have been trained including 492 males (80.92%). The trainees were public health specialists (44.90%), clinicians (15.80%), support staff (13.65%), and non-health actors (25,66%).

Our study highlighted critical challenges to guide the EMT implementation in West Africa. Despite the knowledge gained from the trainings, there is a need to take some urgent actions in West Africa for improving national EMT functionality and performance in West Africa.

The use of chemical weapons in terrorist attacks, though rare, remains a significant challenge and concern due to their ability to inflict mass casualties. Chemical attacks remain a topic of interest for Disaster Medicine (DM) and Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) specialists and are clearly an area in need of enhanced preparedness. This study aims to provide an epidemiological description of all terrorism-related attacks using chemical agents as a primary weapon, sustained from 1970 - 2019. These data will be useful in the development of education programs in CTM and provide an insight into how best to prepare for potential attacks in the future.

Data collection was performed using a retrospective database search through the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The GTD was searched using the internal database search functions for all events using chemical weapons as a primary attack method from January 1, 1970 - December 31, 2019. Years 2020 and 2021 were not yet available at the time of the study. The GTD also details the specific chemical used, when known, in the summary of incidents. Results were exported into an Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corp.; Redmond, Washington USA) for analysis.

A total of 292 terrorist attacks involving chemical agents as a primary attack method were recorded from 1970 - 2019, registering 284 deaths and 13,267 injuries. Acid (52) was the most commonly used chemical agent, followed by “unspecified poison” (43), “unknown chemical agents” (29), “unspecified gas” (27), tear gas (27), chlorine gas (24), cyanide (21), mercury (9), pepper spray or mace (9), mustard gas (8), insecticide or 1080 (8), diphenylamine chloroarsine (7), phosphate or phosphorous (3), sodium hydroxide or corrosive liquid (3), sarin (2), “unspecified drugs” (2), VX nerve gas and other nerve gas (2), pesticides (2), cleaning chemicals/paint thinner (2), ammonia (2), anesthesia agent (1), arsenic (1), chlorine and mustard gas mix (1), phenarsazine chloride (1), rat poison (1), unknown irritative gas (1), hydrochloric acid and sodium cyanide mix (1), unknown white powder (1), antiseptic dye (1), and chlorine gas and white phosphorous mix (1).

The use of chemical weapons in warfare, though prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), remains a rare but concerning terrorist attack methodology. In recent years, there have been more instances where potentially deadly chemicals have been used in civilian settings. Dual use industrial chemicals, in particular, pose a significant concern. Acid was the most commonly used chemical weapon in 52 attacks. Tear gas, chlorine, and cyanide were each used in over 20 attacks. Both DM and CTM specialists advocate for better preparedness and response training for intentional events in civilian settings.

Police transport (PT) of penetrating trauma patients has the potential to improve survival rates. There are no well-established guidelines for PT of penetrating trauma patients.

This study examines the association between survival rate to hospital discharge of adult penetrating trauma patients and mode of transport (PT versus ground ambulance [GA]).

A retrospective, matched cohort study was conducted using the United States (US) National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). All adult penetrating injury patients transported by police to trauma centers were identified and matched (one-to-four) to patients transported by GA for analysis. Descriptive analysis was carried out. The patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics were tabulated and stratified by the transport mode.

Out of the 733 patients with penetrating injuries, ground Emergency Medical Services (EMS) transported 513 patients and police transported 220 patients. Most patients were 16-64 years of age with a male (95.6%) and Black/African American race (79.0%) predominance. Firearm-related injuries (68.8%) were the most common mechanism of injury with the majority of injuries involving the body extremities (62.9%). Open wounds were the most common nature of injury (75.7%). The overall survival rate to hospital discharge was similar for patients transported by GA and by police (94.5% versus 92.7%; P = .343).

In this study, patients with penetrating trauma transported by police had similar outcomes to those transported by GA. As such, PT in penetrating trauma appears to be effective. Detailed protocols should be developed to further improve resource utilization and outcomes.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic challenged health care systems in an unprecedented way. Due to the enormous amount of hospital ward and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, regular care came to a standstill, thereby overcrowding ICUs and endangering (regular and COVID-19-related) critical care. Acute care coordination centers were set up to safely manage the influx of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, treatments requiring ICU surveillance were postponed leading to increased waiting lists.

A coordination center organizing patient transfers and admissions could reduce overcrowding and optimize in-hospital capacity.

The acute lack of hospital capacity urged the region West-Netherlands to form a new regional system for patient triage and transfer: the Regional Capacity and Patient Transfer Service (RCPS). By combining hospital capacity data and a new method of triage and transfer, the RCPS was able to effectively select patients for transfer to other hospitals within the region or, in close collaboration with the National Capacity and Patient Transfer Service (LCPS), transfer patients to hospitals in other regions within the Netherlands.

From March 2020 through December 2021 (22 months), the RCPS West-Netherlands was requested to transfer 2,434 COVID-19 patients. After adequate triage, 1,720 patients with a mean age of 62 (SD = 13) years were transferred with the help of the RCPS West-Netherlands. This concerned 1,166 ward patients (68%) and 554 ICU patients (32%). Overcrowded hospitals were relieved by transferring these patients to hospitals with higher capacity.

The health care system in the region West-Netherlands benefitted from the RCPS for both ward and ICU occupation. Due to the coordination by the RCPS, regional ICU occupation never exceeded the maximal ICU capacity, and therefore patients in need for acute direct care could always be admitted at the ICU. The presented method can be useful in reducing the waiting lists caused by the delayed care and for coordination and transfer of patients with new variants or other infectious diseases in the future.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed a gap in disaster preparedness of health workers globally. Disaster medicine education is a key element to fill this gap.

This study evaluated the involvement of the European Master in Disaster Medicine (EMDM) Alumni in the current COVID-19 pandemic response and their self-perceived value of the EMDM educational program in accomplishing their tasks during the disaster.

An online survey targeting the EMDM Alumni was conducted from January through March 2021. Quantitative data were described using percentages or means, as appropriate, while qualitative data were categorized using deductive thematic analysis.

In total, 259 Alumni completed the survey. Most of the Alumni (88.03%; standard error of the proportion [SEp] = 0.02) participated directly in the COVID-19 pandemic response – nationally or internationally – with different roles and responsibilities at different levels and sectors. Around 25% of the Alumni reported an increase in their tasks and responsibilities due to COVID-19 response, but few worked beyond their main specialization (5.26%) or expertise (2.19%). Moreover, Alumni shifted their role from clinical practice to managerial, public health, education and training, and policymaking roles during COVID-19 (P <.001). Participants believed that the EMDM study program and the competencies acquired during the course were relevant and useful to perform their tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic response (mean = 5.26; 5.17 standard error of the mean [SEM] = 0.108, 0.107), respectively. Around 36% (SEp = 0.03) of the participants deemed that some contents were not sufficient for COVID-19 response.

Most of the EMDM Alumni were involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response, playing diverse roles with an increased level of responsibility compared to those played before the pandemic. Moreover, the Alumni perceived the EMDM curriculum as relevant for accomplishing their tasks. However, they also reported gaps within the curriculum, especially topics related to outbreak and pandemic response. The findings of the study stress the value of investing in disaster medicine education world-wide and of pushing to update and standardize post-graduate disaster medicine curricula.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created challenges in maintaining the safety of prehospital providers caring for patients. Reports have shown increased rates of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider infection with COVID-19 after patient care exposure, especially while utilizing aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). Given the increased risk and rising call volumes for AGP-necessitating complaints, development of novel devices for the protection of EMS clinicians is of great importance.

Drawn from the concept of the powered air purifying respirator (PAPR), the AerosolVE helmet creates a personal negative pressure space to contain aerosolized infectious particles produced by patients, making the cabin of an EMS vehicle safer for providers. The helmet was developed initially for use in hospitals and could be of significant use in the prehospital setting. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of the helmet in mitigating simulated infectious particle spread in varied EMS transport platforms during AGP utilization.

Fifteen healthy volunteers were enrolled and distributed amongst three EMS vehicles: a ground ambulance, a medical helicopter, and a medical jet. Sodium chloride particles were used to simulate infectious particles, and particle counts were obtained in numerous locations close to the helmet and around the patient compartment. Counts near the helmet were compared to ambient air with and without use of AGPs (non-rebreather mask [NRB], continuous positive airway pressure mask [CPAP], and high-flow nasal cannula [HFNC]).

Without the helmet fan on, the particle generator alone and with all AGPs produced particle counts inside the helmet significantly higher than ambient particle counts. With the fan on, there was no significant difference in particle counts around the helmet compared to baseline ambient particle counts. Particle counts at the filter exit averaged less than one despite markedly higher particle counts inside the helmet.

Given the risk to EMS providers by communicable respiratory diseases, development of devices to improve safety while still enabling use of respiratory therapies is of paramount importance. The AerosolVE helmet demonstrated efficacy in creating a negative pressure environment and provided significant filtration of simulated respiratory droplets, thus making the confined space of transport vehicles potentially safer for EMS personnel.

Violence against women (VAW) is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has worsened gender inequality, resulting in a heightened incidence of VAW. This study aims to assess the characteristics of women who admit to the emergency department (ED), both before the pandemic and during the pandemic. The secondary aim is to compare the frequencies of violence cases between periods.

By single-center, retrospective, and cross-sectional design, the periods of April 10 - December 31, 2020 and April 10 - December 31, 2019 were compared. The outcomes of the study were the daily ED admission numbers of both sexes, the prevalence of VAW cases in the ED, as well as sociodemographic and clinical variables of the women who were exposed to violence.

During the pandemic period, number of VAW cases in the ED increased 13% and the ratio of VAW cases to all ED admissions tripled compared to the pre-pandemic period. Women exposed to VAW were more likely to be without social insurance, injured in the trunk part of their body, and having a life-threatening injury in the pandemic period. In both periods, women were attacked by an intimate partner, dominantly (42.6% and 54.1%, respectively). In addition, among all admissions of adults to the ED, women’s percentage decreased while men’s admission ratios increased during the pandemic period. Admissions to ED declined 47.7% during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the year before.

Cases of VAW tend to increase during the pandemic, and health care settings should be well-organized to respond to survivors.

Hemorrhage control prior to shock onset is increasingly recognized as a time-critical intervention. Although tourniquets (TQs) have been demonstrated to save lives, less is known about the physiologic parameters underlying successful TQ application beyond palpation of distal pulses. The current study directly visualized distal arterial occlusion via ultrasonography and measured associated pressure and contact force.

Fifteen tactical officers participated as live models for the study. Arterial occlusion was performed using a standard adult blood pressure (BP) cuff and a Combat Application Tourniquet Generation 7 (CAT7) TQ, applied sequentially to the left mid-bicep. Arterial flow cessation was determined by radial artery palpation and brachial artery pulsed wave doppler ultrasound (US) evaluation. Steady state maximal generated force was measured using a thin-film force sensor.

The mean (95% CI) systolic blood pressure (SBP) required to occlude palpable distal pulse was 112.9mmHg (109-117); contact force was 23.8N [Newton] (22.0-25.6). Arterial flow was visible via US in 100% of subjects despite lack of palpable pulse. The mean (95% CI) SBP and contact force to eliminate US flow were 132mmHg (127-137) and 27.7N (25.1-30.3). The mean (95% CI) number of windlass turns to eliminate a palpable pulse was 1.3 (1.0-1.6) while 1.6 (1.2-1.9) turns were required to eliminate US flow.

Loss of distal radial pulse does not indicate lack of arterial flow distal to upper extremity TQ. On average, an additional one-quarter windlass turn was required to eliminate distal flow. Blood pressure and force measurements derived in this study may provide data to guide future TQ designs and inexpensive, physiologically accurate TQ training models.

Paramedics received training in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to assess for cardiac contractility during management of medical out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The primary outcome was the percentage of adequate POCUS video acquisition and accurate video interpretation during OHCA resuscitations. Secondary outcomes included POCUS impact on patient management and resuscitation protocol adherence.

A prospective, observational cohort study of paramedics was performed following a four-hour training session, which included a didactic lecture and hands-on POCUS instruction. The Prehospital Echocardiogram in Cardiac Arrest (PECA) protocol was developed and integrated into the resuscitation algorithm for medical non-shockable OHCA. The ultrasound (US) images were reviewed by a single POCUS expert investigator to determine the adequacy of the POCUS video acquisition and accuracy of the video interpretation. Change in patient management and resuscitation protocol adherence data, including end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2) monitoring following advanced airway placement, adrenaline administration, and compression pauses under ten seconds, were queried from the prehospital electronic health record (EHR).

Captured images were deemed adequate in 42/49 (85.7%) scans and paramedic interpretation of sonography was accurate in 43/49 (87.7%) scans. The POCUS results altered patient management in 14/49 (28.6%) cases. Paramedics adhered to EtCO2 monitoring in 36/36 (100.0%) patients with an advanced airway, adrenaline administration for 38/38 (100.0%) patients, and compression pauses under ten seconds for 36/38 (94.7%) patients.

Paramedics were able to accurately obtain and interpret cardiac POCUS videos during medical OHCA while adhering to a resuscitation protocol. These findings suggest that POCUS can be effectively integrated into paramedic protocols for medical OHCA.

Heart attacks (HAs) present clinically with varying symptoms, which are not always described by patients as chest pain (CP) or chest discomfort (CD). Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) select the CP/CD dispatch protocol for non-chest pain HA symptoms or classic HA complaint of CP/CD. Nevertheless, it is still unknown how often callers report HA symptoms other than CP/CD.

The objective of this study was to characterize the caller’s descriptions of the primary HA symptoms, descriptions of the other HA symptoms, and the use of a case entry (CE) question clarifier.

A retrospective descriptive study analyzed randomly selected EMD audios (where CD/CD protocol was used) from five accredited emergency communication centers in the United States. Several Quality Performance Review (QPR) experts reviewed the audios and recorded callers’ initial problem descriptions, the use of and responses to the CE question clarifier, including the EMD-assigned final determinant code.

A total of 1,261 audios were reviewed. The clarifier was used only 8.5% of the time. The CP/CD symptoms were mentioned alone or with other problems 87.0% of the time. Overall, CP symptom was mentioned alone 70.8%, HA alone 4.0%, and CD symptom alone 1.4% of the time.

9-1-1 callers report potential HA cases using a variety of terms and descriptions—most commonly CP. Other less-common symptoms associated with a HA may be mentioned. Therefore, EMDs must be well-trained to be prepared to probe the caller with a clarifying query to elicit more specific information when “having a heart attack” is the only complaint initially mentioned.

Mass gatherings (MGs) often bring together professionals and organizations that collaborate irregularly or have never engaged in joint working. They involve interaction and communication among multiple and diverse services, which can often prove challenging. Planning such an event is of paramount importance for its success, and interorganizational communication ranks among its most important aspects. Nonetheless, there is limited empirical evidence to support interagency communication in MGs.

This study used the 2017 Athens Marathon (Athens, Greece) as the empirical setting to examine how interorganizational communication was perceived among the multiple public health and safety professionals during the planning and implementation phase of the event.

Data comprised 15 semi-structured in-depth interviews with key informants, direct observations of meetings and the event itself, and documentary analysis. Open coding and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data.

Findings indicated three key components of interorganizational communication in such an event: (1) shared situational awareness; (2) interorganizational understanding; and (3) implementing liaison officers.

This study outlined the factors that influenced interorganizational communication before and during a MG. Practical implications arising from this study may inform the way organizers of marathons and other mass sporting events can engage in effective interorganizational communication.

The WHO EMT Minimum Data Set (EMT-MDS) was designed for data collection in sudden-onset disasters. Using EMT-MDS in the context of primary health care (PHC) generated large quantities of low granularity data that threatened the successful delivery of UK-Med’s clinical programs in Ukraine. Accordingly, UK-Med developed, piloted, and implemented a new coding tool (PHC-CT) tailored to PHC presentations prevalent in humanitarian settings.

To assess the performance of EMT-MDS and PHC-CT in the generation of programmatically-useful diagnostic codes from data collected in mobile PHC clinics in Ukraine during active conflict.

To compare the performance of EMT-MDS and PHC-CT in this setting and to suggest recommendations for data collection tool improvements.

After multiple iterations, the final version of PHC-CT was used to collect clinical data from all UK-Med clinical encounters in Ukraine from March 28, 2022-May 13, 2022. Clinical data using EMT-MDS were collected simultaneously. The prevalence of each diagnostic code was calculated using both EMT-MDS and PHC-CT, expressed as a proportion of the total diagnoses, and compared between the two coding tools.

1,390 clinical encounters took place during the study. Data coded using EMT-MDS generated 1,756 diagnoses (86.8% of total diagnoses) categorized as “Other Diagnosis” while the same data coded using PHC-CT generated 37 diagnoses (1.8% of total diagnoses) categorized as “Other Diagnosis.” Only seven of the available 25 diagnostic codes in EMT-MDS were used, while 48 of the 67 available diagnostic codes in PHC-CT were used.

PHC-CT offers substantial benefits beyond those provided by EMT-MDS when utilized in mobile PHC clinics in humanitarian settings.

Tables and Figures (optional)

Table 1.

Number of Clinical Encounters, Unique Diagnoses, and Frequency of Selected Diagnostic Codes for EMT-MDS and PHC-CT. (Note: % refers to proportion of diagnoses made)

Educational institutions around the world have long been targets of terrorist attacks. Schools, colleges, and universities often lack security measures against intentional threats and may be viewed as relatively easy, soft targets with high potential for mass casualties. The long-term psychosocial impact on children, youth, and survivors of terrorist attacks are significant and recovery remains a challenge. Deliberate attacks on students and children, in particular, can also often gain mass-media attention, provoke significant community unrest, and place a spotlight on the local government’s inability to protect the vulnerable. This study is an epidemiological examination of all terrorism-related events targeting educational institutions from 1970-2019.

Data collection was performed using a retrospective search through the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The database was searched using the internal search functions for all events that occurred from January 1, 1970 - December 31, 2019. “Educational institutions” as a primary target type was selected for the purpose of this study and events were further sub-classified by country and attack type. All classifications were pre-determined by the GTD.

The GTD listed 4,520 attacks against educational institutions, recording 3,732 deaths and 9,920 wounded. This accounted for 2.7% of all terrorist attacks (total 168,003 attacks against all target types). There has been a downtrend in attacks since the 2014 peak when 344 attacks were recorded that year. Pakistan recorded the most attacks with 969 events, followed by Afghanistan (369), India (311), and Iraq (279). The most common attack types included bombing/explosions (2290), facility/infrastructure attacks (636), armed assaults (628), hostage takings (kidnappings [415]), assassinations (357), unarmed assaults (72), unknown (67), hostage takings (barricade incidents [46]), and hijackings (9).

Eight hundred seventy-three of the 4,520 attacks were recorded against teachers, professors, and instructors and 486 attacks were recorded against “other personnel” such as security and non-teaching staff.

Terrorist attacks on educational institutions are rare but significant target types. In total, 41.2% of attacks on educational institutions occurred in South Asia, followed by 18.9% in the Middle East and North Africa. Western Europe and North America accounted for 3.9% and 3.6%, respectively. Educational institutions around the world should evaluate their risks and put in place appropriate hardening measures as well as preparedness and recovery plans to intentional threats.

Ambulance patients who are unable to be quickly transferred to an emergency department (ED) bed represent a key contributing factor to ambulance offload delay (AOD). Emergency department crowding and associated AOD are exacerbated by multiple factors, including infectious disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Initiatives to address AOD present an opportunity to streamline ambulance offload procedures while improving patient outcomes.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the initial outcomes and impact of a novel Emergency Medical Service (EMS)-based Hospital Liaison Program (HLP) on ambulance offload times (AOTs).

Ambulance offload times associated with EMS patients transported to a community hospital six months before and after HLP implementation were retrospectively analyzed using proportional significance tests, t-tests, and multiple regression analysis.

A proportional increase in incidents in the zero to <30 minutes time category after program implementation (+2.96%; P <.01) and a commensurate decrease in the proportion of incidents in the 30 to <60 minutes category (−2.65%; P <.01) were seen. The fully adjusted regression model showed AOT was 16.31% lower (P <.001) after HLP program implementation, holding all other variables constant.

The HLP is an innovative initiative that constitutes a novel pathway for EMS and hospital systems to synergistically enhance ambulance offload procedures. The greatest effect was demonstrated in patients exhibiting potentially life-threatening symptoms, with a reduction of approximately three minutes. While small, this outcome was a statistically significant decrease from the pre-intervention period. Ultimately, the HLP represents an additional strategy to complement existing approaches to mitigate AOD.

Terrorists increasingly aim at so-called soft targets, such as hospitals. However, little is known about terrorist attacks against Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

This study aims to review all documented terrorist attacks against EMS that occurred world-wide from 1970-2019 using the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).

Reports of terrorist attacks against EMS were extracted from the GTD from 1970-2019. Data collection included temporal factors, attack and weapon type, number of casualties, and if it was a primary or secondary attack (secondary attack: deliberate attack against the first responders of an initial terrorist attack). Reports were excluded if EMS were not a target or if it was unclear whether they were a target. Chi-square tests were performed to evaluate trends over time.

There were 184 terrorist attacks against EMS, resulting in 748 deaths and 1,239 people injured. Terrorist attacks against EMS significantly increased over the past two decades. The “Middle East & North Africa” was the most frequently affected region with 81 attacks (44.0%) followed by “South Asia” with 41 attacks (22.3%). Bombings and explosions were the most common attack type (85 incidents; 46.2%) followed by armed assaults (68 incidents; 35.3%). Combined prehospital and hospital attacks were first reported in 2005 and occurred seven times. The first secondary attack against EMS dates from 1997, after which an increase was observed from 10 to 39 incidents in the periods 2000-2009 and 2010-2019, respectively.

This analysis of the GTD, which identified 184 terrorist attacks against EMS over a 50-year period, demonstrates that terrorist attacks against EMS have significantly increased during the years and that secondary attacks are an emerging risk. Bombings and explosions are the most common attack type. Terrorist attacks against EMS are most prevalent in countries with high level of internal conflicts, however, they have also occurred in western countries. These incidents may hold valuable information to prevent future attacks.

Injuries on alpine ski slopes have been described in cohorts of a reasonable sample size, but constant improvements in safety gear, increased use of airborne rescue, and safety measures during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic mandate re-evaluation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate skiing and snowboarding injuries, effectiveness of airborne rescue, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a large sample size.

Data on alpine injuries were prospectively collected from the state emergency services dispatch center in the state of Tyrol (Austria). A total of 10,143 patients were identified, with an average age of 33.5 years (SD = 20.36). The ski patrol was involved in 8,606 cases (84.9%) and some patients (n = 1,536; 15.1%) required helicopter rescue.

A total of 10,143 patients were identified from the dataset of the emergency dispatch center. The most frequently injured region was the knee (30.2%), and it was followed by the shoulder (12.9%), the lower leg (9.5%), and the head/skull (9.5%).

The present findings indicate that the most frequent site of injuries on alpine slopes is the knee, and life-threatening injuries are rare. Airborne rescue is very time-effective, however clinical studies with patient follow-up should be emphasized to determine the impact of airborne rescue on patient outcome. The present findings indicate that the duration of all rescue operations has been prolonged as a result of the introduction of safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 tremendously affected Papua New Guinea in late 2021, which accompanied by a low vaccination rate (<4%), lead to an International EMT Request for Assistance.

Study’s aim is to share how UK-Med, a part of the UK EMT, developed best practices related to risk communication and community engagement integration within a COVID-19 emergency response.

A participatory health promotion program was piloted in Western Highland Province among 71 health care workers. Training of trainers approach was adopted to build the capacity of health workers in advocating for vaccines uptake. Perception survey was used at the baseline and at the end of the program to assess the knowledge, skills, and attitude of the participants towards COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. A descriptive analysis and paired t-test were used.

Health care professionals are not well-equipped with accurate, scientific, and up-to-date information related to COVID-19 vaccines; which leads to increase in concern and fear among them. Health care workers affect community members’ decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine, being viewed as referents within their communities. The paired t-test showed a significant increase in the knowledge, skills, and attitude (P value <.001) of the participants toward COVID-19 vaccines. Participants described being ready to engage community influencers and cascade training to further reach out to community groups.

Integrating RCCE within EMT deployments plays a crucial role in leveraging health care capabilities to influence community members and advocate for COVID-19 vaccines uptake; which will ultimately decrease morbidity and mortality. Further research is required to strengthen the role of health promotion in emergencies.