Field Hospitals

Field hospitals are deployed in a wide range of scenarios including natural disasters, epidemic outbreaks, armed conflicts and refugee crises. Operation in these conditions requires adaptation to disaster medicine principles and operation in an austere environment and unfamiliar cultural milieu, whilst maintaining acceptable standards of care. For many of those involved it may be their first encounter. This book, which is the first to address the preparation and operation of field hospitals, brings together the experience of world leaders in the field. Coming from a wide variety of organizations and backgrounds, all have extensive experience in field hospital deployment in multiple scenarios. The text - containing both background information and practical guidelines - will serve all those involved in field hospital deployment, including policy makers and planners, physicians and nurses, paramedical professionals and logisticians. It will help them deliver optimal care to people around the globe in difficult times of need.

    Concentrates the literature on field hospitals in one source, helping readers to easily locate specific information
    Covers all aspects of field hospital preparation and operation - including general, organizational and specific clinical fields - ensuring all team members have a basis for both their individual and integrative team activity
    Discussion of the specific needs and mode of operation in a field hospital compared to a regular hospital is especially useful for those without prior field hospital experience

Table of Contents

Preface Elhanan Bar-On, Kobi Peleg and Yitshak Kreiss
Part I. History:
1. History of military field hospitals Eran Dolev
2. Caring for weapon wounded: the Red Cross experience from Solferino to the ICRC hospitals Asa Molde
Part II. Scenarios:
3. Definitions, needs, scenarios, functional concept, modes of deployment Maximilian P. Nerlander and Johan von Schreeb
4. Needs assessment: forecasting the needs and improving the immediate medical response in complex emergencies Olivier Hagon, Lionel Dumont and Jean-Daniel Junod
5. Predeployment operational planning and preparations Arjun Katoch and Elon Glassberg
Part III. Operational Considerations:
6. Training and accreditation Anthony D. Redmond
7. Personnel Pietro D. Marghella and Kelly Suter
8. Leading the mission: organizational structure and operations Yitshak Kreiss and Yoel Har-Even
9. Coordination and organization of medical relief to affected areas Kobi Peleg, Moran Bodas and Ian Norton
10. Field hospital logistics: the technical component Terry Trewin
11. Auxiliary medical services in a field hospital Yoel Har-Even, Guy Lakovski, Melanie Morrow, Michel Somekh and Tami Halperin
12. Information and communication technologies in a field hospital Gadi Levi and Dror Yifrach
Part IV. Clinical Considerations:
13. Advanced triage management for emergency medical teams Frederick M. Burkle, Jr
14. Medical aspects in a field hospital Ian Miskin and Eliezer Schwartz
15. Pediatrics in a field hospital Vladislav Dvoyris and Tarif Bader
16. Surgery in a field hospital Harald Veen and Seema Biswas
17. Wound management in a field hospital environment Alan Kay
18. Orthopedics in a field hospital Elhanan Bar-On and Patrick Herard
19. Burn care in a field hospital environment Alan Kay
20. Obstetrics and gynecology in a field hospital Avi Abargel and Shir Dar
21. Otolaryngology and maxillofacial surgery in a field hospital Tal Marom, Haim Lavon and Ariel Hirschhorn
22. Ophthalmology in a field hospital Erez Tsumi
23. Anesthesia and pain management in field hospitals Ralf E. Gebhard, Asima Iqbal and Mohamed Koronfel
24. Intensive care unit build-up within a field hospital setting Ami Mayo, Nisim Ifrach, Dekel Stavi and Nimrod Adi
25. Infectious diseases and public health in a field hospital Paul Reed and Boris Lushniak
26. Primary and ambulatory care in a field hospital in disaster areas Ilan Green and Shlomo Vinker
27. Mental health in a field hospital Eyal Fruchter and Karen Ginat
28. Nursing in a field hospital: planning, organisation and operations Bronte Martin and Rebecca Weir
Part V. Additional Contextual Considerations:
29. Forensic medicine and victim identification in the field hospital setting S. David Gertz, Chen Kugel, Ladd A. Tremiane and Louis N. Finelli
30. Prehospital care in the disaster setting Dan Hanfling
31. Long-term deployment and continuity of care Seema Biswas, Harald Veen and Inga Osmers
32. Ethical dilemmas in field hospital deployment Ofer Merin, Avraham Steinberg and Dan Hanfling
33. Legal issues Claire Clement

Elhanan Bar-On, The Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
Elhanan Bar-On is an orthopedic surgeon and director of The Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response at Sheba Medical Center – Israel. He has participated in multiple missions to disaster areas including the earthquakes in Turkey, India, Haiti and Nepal, typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, cholera outbreak in Zambia, volcanic eruption in Guatemala, and cyclone Idai in Mozambique. He works and teaches extensively in underserved regions in Africa, Latin America and Asia and is active in the WHO Emergency Medical Teams initiative. He has published extensively on orthopedics and trauma as well as treatment and organization in field hospitals following disasters.

Kobi Peleg, National Center for Trauma & Emergency Medicine Research, The Gertner Institute for Health Policy and Epidemiology and Tel-Aviv University, Disaster Medicine Department
Kobi Peleg is the Director of the Gertner Institute for Health Policy and Epidemiology and the Head of the National Center for Trauma and Emergency Medicine Research. He is Professor and founder of the Disaster Medicine Department and the Master Programs for Emergency Disaster Management at Tel-Aviv University. Professor Peleg served as Senior Assistant to the Minister of Health. He served as an UNDAC expert in the earthquakes of Indonesia (2009) and Nepal (2015) and as a mentor by the WHO-EMT to field hospitals. He served in command positions in Israeli Field Hospital to the Armenian earthquake (1988), Rwanda (1995), Haiti earthquake (2010) and the Philippines (2013). Professor Peleg is the Chair of WADEM. He has published around 200 publications.

Yitshak Kreiss, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
Yitshak Kreiss is the Director General of the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Israel. He previously served as the Surgeon General of the Israel Defense Forces. He has led many emergency and humanitarian missions worldwide including a humanitarian medical operation for the victims of the civil war in Syria and field hospital deployments in Macedonia for the Kosovo refugees, in Haiti for the victims of the earthquake in 2010 and in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Professor Kreiss has received various awards for his contributions to humanitarian efforts worldwide. His research has contributed significantly to the development of current concepts and approaches to management of field hospitals, medical care, leadership and ethics in disasters.