Incidence of the "Knife & Gun Club" vs military medicine

[Hardcastle, Tim, Dr <tch at sun.ac.za>]

Gustavo

In short - NO! I work where the Knife and gun club exists in 60% of our admissions - we are the second busiest Academic Trauma Service in the WORLD (20K, (trauma only unit) per annum)! (Baragwanath in Johannesburg sees only a few hundred per year more than us). What is military must generally remain military - we are resource challenged, but not under fire - at least not yet in my hospital.

Keep it simple is the best practice in Trauma Surgery; direct pressure, no clamps or tourniquets on wounds outside the OR and rapid access to the OR make the difference.

Regards
Tim
Dr T C Hardcastle
M.B.,Ch.B.(Stell); M.Med(Chir); FCS(SA)
Senior Surgeon / Senior Lecturer: Surgery (Trauma and ICU)
ATLS  instructor and DSTC Cape Town Course Director
Intern program Coordinator: Surgery
M.Med (Emergency Medicine) Executive Committee member
Clinical Head (Director): Diana Princess of Wales Trauma Unit
Division of Surgery (General) Room 4064
Department of Surgical Sciences
Tygerberg Hospital / University of Stellenbosch
PO Box 19063
Tygerberg 7505
Western Cape
South Africa
e-mail: tch at sun.ac.za
Cell: +27824681615
Office: +27219389281 or 4911 pager 0302



-----Original Message-----
From: trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org
[mailto:trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org]On Behalf Of Gustavo E. Flores
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:11 AM
To: 'Trauma & Critical Care mailing list'
Subject: Incidence of the "Knife & Gun Club" vs military medicine


Just playing the Devil's Advocate.
 
Would it be prudent to consider adapting military experiences and/or
concepts to civilian life in places where the "Knife and Gun Club" is
exceedingly more than national averages? If so, what would they be?

Granted, civilian EMS is different from military prehospital care in many
aspects regardless of how severely injured the victim is. The available
immediate resources and the logistics vary greatly. 
 
Gustavo E. Flores Bauer, MSIII EMT-P :.
 <http://www.EmergencyTeam.Net> www.EmergencyTeam.Net
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Iberoamerican University School of Medicine
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
 
Cel: 829-770-0707
Fax: 809-686-6988
MSN Messenger: gustavoflores911
Skype: gflores911
E-Mail:  <mailto:gustavo at emergencyteam.net> gustavo at emergencyteam.net
 
Ideas not coupled with action never become bigger 
than the brain cells they occupied.

     - Arnold H. Glasgow
 
"My dogma ran over your karma".
 
S:.F:.U:.
 
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