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Medical Relief Personnel in Complex Emergencies: Perceptions of Effectiveness in the Former Yugoslavia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Michael J. VanRooyen ,
M. James Eliades ,
Jurek G. Grabowski ,
M.E. Stress ,
Josip Juric  and
Frederick M. Burkle Jr.
Michael J. VanRooyen*
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for International Emergency Medicine Studies, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
M. James Eliades
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for International Emergency Medicine Studies, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Jurek G. Grabowski
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for International Emergency Medicine Studies, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
M.E. Stress
Affiliation:
The Chicago Medical School FUHS, Department of Clinical Psychology, North Chicago, Illinois, USA
Josip Juric
Affiliation:
State Hospital of Sarajevo, Department of Neurosurgery, Sarajevo, Bosnia
Frederick M. Burkle Jr.
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for International Emergency Medicine Studies, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
*
Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1830 E. Monument St., Suite 6-100, Baltimore, MD 21287 USA, E-mail: mvanrooy@jhmi.edu
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Abstract

Humanitarian medical assistance and intervention during the civil war in Bosnia and Croatia was felt by national health workers to be relatively ineffective (2.8 on a 5-point Likert scale), compared to other forms of humanitarian assistance such as medical supplies (4.4/5) and non-medical materials (3.9/5). Bosnian physicians treating civilians noted that the most helpful types of personnel were surgeons and emergency physicians. This study suggests that assessment of personnel needs at the recipient level, in addition to standard relief assessments, is required early in models of complex emergencies. This study supports existing epidemiological models of complex emergencies, especially when high trauma-related mortality and morbidity are likely to occur.

Keywords

assessmentBosniacomplex emergencyconflictCroatiaepidemiologyhealth carehumanitarian assistancemedical reliefmodelsepidemiologicalmortalityneedspersonneltraumawarYugoslavia
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2001 , pp. 145 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2001

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