Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

Table of Contents
VOLUME 21, NUMBER 2
March– April 2006

Editor’s Corner
Emergency Medical Services Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Marvin L. Birnbaum, MD, PhD

Original Research
Health Conditions and Risk Factors of Sheltered Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Joshua R. Vest, MPH; Adolfo M. Valadez, MD

Back to Where It Happened: Self-Reported Symptom Improvement of Tsunami Survivors
who Returned to the Disaster Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Trond Heir, MD, PhD; Lars Weisaeth, MD, PhD

Realities of Rural Emergency Medical Services Disaster Preparedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Paul M. Furbee, MA; Jeffery H. Coben, MD; Sharon K. Smyth, BA; William G. Manley, RN, CEN;
Daniel E. Summers, RN, BSN, CEN, EMT-P; Nels D. Sanddal, MS, REMT-B; Teri L. Sanddal, BS, REMT-B;
James C. Helmkamp, PhD; Rodney L. Kimble, BA, EMT-P; Ronald C. Althouse, PhD; Aaron T. Kocsis, RN, MS

Sensitivity and Specificity of the Medical Priority Dispatch System in Detecting
Cardiac Arrest Emergency Calls in Melbourne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Julie Flynn, BMedSci; Frank Archer, MBBS, MEd, MPH; Amee Morgans, BA, BAppSci (Hons)

Accuracy of a Priority Medical Dispatch System in Dispatching Cardiac Emergencies
in a Suburban Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Michael J. Reilly, MPH, NREMT-P

National Study of Ambulance Transports to United States Emergency Departments:
Importance of Mental Health Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Gregory Luke Larkin, MD, MSPH; Cynthia A. Claassen, PhD; Andrea J. Pelletier, MPH, MS;
Carlos A. Camargo, Jr., MD, DrPH

Collegiate-Based Emergency Medical Services: A Survey of EMS Systems on
College Campuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Jonathan Fisher, MD, MPH; Adam Ray, DO; Scott C. Savett, PhD; Mark E. Milliron, MPA;
George J. Koenig, DO

Success and Complication Rates with Prehospital Placement of an
Esophageal-Tracheal Combitube as a Rescue Airway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Thomas R. Calkins, MD; Ken Miller, MD, PhD; Mark I. Langdorf, MD, MHPE, FACEP

Reasons Prehospital Personnel Do Not Administer Aspirin to All Patients
Complaining of Chest Pain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Edmond A. Hooker, MD; Taylor Benoit; Timothy G. Price, MD

Comprehensive Review
The Prehospital Emergency Care System in Mexico City:
A System's Performance Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Luis Mauricio Pinet Peralta, MSc, EMPT-P

Brief Report
Cardiac Arrest on the Links: Are we up to Par? Availability of Automated
External Defibrillators on Golf Courses in Southeastern Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
John Lucas, DO; A. Alex Davill, MD; Kevin N. Waninger, MD; Michael Heller, MD

Special Report
KAMEDO Report No. 77: Sinking of the MS Sleipner, 26 November 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Helge Brandstrom; Karin Sedig; Jorgen Lundalv

KAMEDO Report No. 78: Nuclear Accident in Japan, 1999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
Siegfried Joussineau; Louis Riddez (ed)

KAMEDO Report No. 79: Train Accident in Germany, 1998. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Lennart Iselius; Per-Ake Nilsson; Louis Riddez (ed)

KAMEDO Report No. 80: Train Accident in England, 1999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Annika Hedelin; Per Ortenwall; Per-Olof Ortgren; Louis Riddez (ed)

KAMEDO Report No. 82: Explosion at the Fireworks Warehouse in the
Netherlands in 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 123
Viveka Bjornhagen; Torbjorn Messner; Helge Brandstrom (ed)

KAMEDO Report No. 83: European Union Summit in Goteborg, 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Eva Fellenius; Hakan Lindberg; Annika Hedelin; Per Ortenwall; Louis Riddez (ed)

KAMEDO Report No. 84: Terrorist Attacks Against the World Trade Center,
11 September 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Agne Waage; Bertil Hamberger; Tom Lundin; Bjorn-Ove Suserud; Louis Riddez

Supplement: Invited Cyanide Papers
From Smoke Inhalation to Chemical Attacks: Acute Cyanide Poisoning in
the Prehospital Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s38
Paul M. Maniscalco, MPA, DrBA(c), EMT-P

Acute Cyanide Poisoning in Prehospital Care: New Challenges, New Tools
for Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s40
Tee Guidotti, MD, MPH, DABT

Focus on Smoke Inhalation: The Most Common Cause of Acute Cyanide Poisoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s49
Marc Eckstein, MD, FACEP; Paul M. Maniscalco, MPA, DrBA(c), EMT-P

Terrorism Involving Cyanide: The Prospect of Improving Preparedness in the
Prehospital Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s56
Mark E. Keim, MD