Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu
VOLUME 18, NUMBER 1
January – March 2003
Table of Contents

Editor’s Corner
What’s New? . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Marvin L. Birnbaum, MD, PhD

Editorials
The Editorial: A Means of Advancing Knowledge and Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Samuel J. Stratton, MD,MPH

Hercules versus the Methane Monster: Separating Law from Mythology for Practical Use in Disasters and Emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Michael H. Hoffman, JD

Original Research
Multimodal Assessment of the Primary Healthcare System of Serbia: A Model for Evaluating
Post-Conflict Health Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Brett D. Nelson; Snezana Simic, MD, PhD; Lauren Beste; Dejana Vukovic, MD, PhD;
Vesna Bjegovic, MD, PhD; Michael J. VanRooyen, MD,MPH, FACEP

Medical Support for Children’s Mass Gatherings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Andreas R. Thierbach, MD; Benno B.Wolcke, MD; Tim Piepho, MD; Marc Maybauer, MD;
Rainer Huth, MD

Prehospital Hyperventilation after Brain Injury: A Prospective Analysis of Prehospital and Early
Hospital Hyperventilation of the Brain-Injured Patient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.
Dave Lal, MD; Steve Weiland, MD; Monica Newton, RN; Anne Flaten, RT; Michael Schurr, MD

Cost: Benefit of Point-of-Care Blood Gas Analysis vs. Laboratory Measurement During
Stabilization Prior to Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..24
Andrew J Macnab,MD, FRCPC; Greg Grant, MD, FRCPC; Kyle Stevens, EMAII;
Faith Gagnon, HBSc; Robert Noble, EMAIII; Charles Sun, MD, FRCPC
Special Reports

Anglo-American vs. Franco-German Emergency Medical Services System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Wolfgang F. Dick, MD

Forum
Canadian Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Michael McKeage, EMT-Paramedic, BA

Erratum

Rapid Epidemiological Assessment of Health Status in Displaced Populations—an Evolution toward
Standardized Minimum Essential Data Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..178
David A. Bradt, MD,MPH, FACEM, FAFPHM, FAAEM; Christina M. Drummond, MBBS,
DObst(RCOG), DTM&H, FRACP, MPH, MAE, FAFPHM

JANUARY–MARCH 2003