Global Surgery & Anesthesia
SIGN Disaster Relief Handbook
Dr Lew Zirkle the founder of the Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN) has posted an article on the above subject on Orthopaedia, the orthopaedic Wiki. http://www.orthopaedia.com/display/Main/SIGN+Disaster+Relief+Handbook
This is a open authorship site (although you need to register to contribute; only medical personnel are accepted). Contributions from other experts on surgery in the disaster relief situation would be very much appreciated. The focus is orthopaedic trauma but of course there is a lot of overlap.
SIGN designs and supplies intramedullary nails free of charge to LMIC hospitals. The SIGN system does not need fluoroscopic control and is designed for use in low resource settings. Dr Zirkle has been a first responder in the Indonesian Tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake, and the Haiti earthquake and has convened conferences on the aftercare of disaster victims so he knows what he is talking about.
Robert Riviello
Myles, thank you for directing the community to the important work of the SIGN program. They really are a fantastic group. And this approach really does seem to be the best answer currently to the problem Myles brings up in an earlier commentary - that problem being that the WHO GIEESC standard for long bone fracture management is traction, which requires weeks of hospital-based care, leads to debility from immobility, and hence delayed return to work, etc. Certainly, when an IM nail is appropriate and can be had, this should be the standard we promote. SIGN's work may make this more feasible for more patients in LMICs.
10:08 PM, 28 Apr 2010 | Permalink
Nadine Semer
For those interested, the 2010 Annual SIGN Conference is Sept 15-18 in Richland, WA
www.sign-post.org
11:24 PM, 28 Apr 2010 | Permalink