FHI360-SATELLIFE Health Information and Technology

This site aims to provide evidence-based answers to real-life clinical questions. BETs has a focus on emergency medicine, but also covers questions in cardiothoracics, nursing, primary care and paediatrics. The site is maintained by the Emergency Department of Manchester Royal Infirmary, UK. http://www.bestbets.org/

Best Practice Guidelines on Emergency Surgical Care in Disaster Situations (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This lengthy pdf file contains guidelines condensed from the WHO manual 'Surgical Care at the District Hospital'. The topics include antibiotic treatment, sterilization, waste management, laceration and wound management, amputations, upper and lower extremity injuries, and printable 'best practice protocols' for numerous emergency/disaster situations. http://www.who.int/surgery/en/ESC_in_disasters.pdf

Cochrane Collaboration: Evidence Aid Project

The Cochrane Collaboration’s Evidence Aid project was established following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. It uses knowledge from Cochrane Reviews and other systematic reviews to provide reliable, up-to-date evidence on interventions on natural disasters and other major healthcare emergencies... Evidence Aid seeks to highlight which interventions work, which don’t work, which need more research and which might be harmful. The material is organized by broad subject categories (e.g. radiation, earthquake, flooding and poor water sanitation and burns) http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane-reviews/evidence-aid-project

Disaster Information Management Resource Center

The Center provides access to health information resources and technology for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Besides a keyword search engine, access is organized by broad topics including disaster types and topics, emergency response tools, health literature, librarians and disasters plus links to key databases. It also includes a news center and links to full-text guides. It is maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/

Disaster Preparedness and Response Web Links

This site contains numerous links to selected Internet resources and searches in various U.S. National Library of Medicine databases including PubMed. Topics range from crude oil spills to earthquakes, floods and public health preparedness for mass gatherings. The site is maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/subjectguides.html

Emergency Medicine: an Online Medical Reference

This comprehensive resource includes a detailed table of contents, search engine, and bibliographies. http://emedicine.medscape.com/emergency_medicine

Emergency Nutrition Network (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

The Emergency Nutrition Network provides an online newsletter, 'Field Exchange', and a range of free online publications including 'Key guidelines for nutrition in emergencies'. The Network has its secretariat in Ireland and serves a global membership of NGOs and other organizations connected with nutrition. http://www.ennonline.net/

Guidelines for the Prevention and Clinical Management of Snakebite in Africa (Focus on low-income countries)

This WHO/AFRO publication contains guidelines on the prevention and clinical management of snakebites in sub-Saharan Africa. Topics include Morphological characteristics and distribution of venomous snakes, prevention of snakebite, venoms, antivenoms and treatment ancillary treatment and management at the community level. The document can be downloaded as a PDF file. http://www.afro.who.int/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=5529

Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma

This organization has spent 25 years caring for the health and mental needs of survivors of mass violence and torture through a combined practice of clinical experience and medical research. The site contains information about the program, its projects, research and clinical methodology. The organization is based at the Harvard University, School of Public Health, U.S. http://hprt-cambridge.org/

Integrated Management for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care: e-learning tool kit (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This tool kit contains a series of pdf files that provide guidance on emergency and essential emergency care in trauma, obstetrics and anaesthesia at first-level health facilities. Topics covered include best practices for clinical procedures safety, guidelines on emergency surgical care in disasters, essential emergency equipment list including anaesthesia, surgical care at the district hospital, training for emergency surgical skills, and needs assessment at resource-limited health care facilities. http://www.who.int/surgery/publications/imeesc/en/index.html

Pocket Book of Obstetric, Neonatal, and Paediatric Emergencies including Major Trauma

This large pdf files contains extensive information on all major facets of obstetric, neonatal and pediatric emergencies. It includes step-by-step guidelines and numerous graphics. The book is collaborative work of the Childhood Advocacy International, UK, Government of the Gambia and WHO the Gambia. http://caiuk.org/projects/downloads/Pocket-Book_ESS-EMCH.pdf http://www.mcai.org.uk/assets/content/documents/pocket-book_English.pdf

Psychological First Aid: Guide for Field Workers (Focus on Low Income Countries)

This guide covers psychological first aid (PFA) which involves humane, supportive and practical help to fellow human beings suffering serious crisis events. It is written for people in a position to help others who have experienced an extremely distressing event. Topics include: Understanding PFA, How to Help Responsibly, Providing PFA, Caring for Yourself and Collegues and Practice What You Have Learned. The guide is downloadable as a PDF file and was published in 2011 by the World Health Organization. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241548205_eng.pdf

PubMed - Free Fulltext Articles on Trauma

This PubMed search will identify all trauma related free fulltext ejournal articles within the database. Within the search results, there are links to the fulltext material. By repeating this search periodically, you will find new fulltext articles that are added to the PubMed database weekly. Essential Health Links contains similar searches for most subpages listed in the Specific Health Resources table of contents. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=PureSearch&db=pubmed&details_term=%22loattrfree%20full%20text%22%5Bsb%5D%20AND%20%28%22injuries%22%5BSubheading%5D%20OR%20%28%22wounds%20and%20injuries%22%5BTIAB%5D%20NOT%20Medline%5BSB%5D%29%20OR%20%22wounds%20and%20injuries%22%5BMeSH%20Terms%5D%20OR%20trauma%5BText%20Word%5D%29

Radiation Emergency Medical Management

This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website contains significant information on the guidance and treatment for health care providers. It provides just-in-time, evidence-based, usable information that is web-based and downloadable. The tool is organized into sequential sections: What kind of emergency, initial incident activities, patient management, management modifiers and an extensive listing of tools and guidelines. http://www.remm.nlm.gov/

Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health

The Guide includes expert guidelines, factsheets, websites, research reports, articles, and other tools aimed at the public health community. It includes a keyword search tool and is maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://disasterlit.nlm.nih.gov

Trauma ImageBank

This site is a collection of trauma images. It is accessed by broad subject categories (eg. prehospital care, neurotrauma, spine, wounds and burns) with images freely available for use by all. The site is maintained by Trauma.org, a UK based non-profit organization. http://www.trauma.org/index.php?/main/images/

Trauma.org

Trauma.org aims to disseminate knowledge of trauma care throughout the world. The site includes educational materials, original articles, and an image database of trauma images that can be downloaded for educational use. Users can join the email discussion list 'trauma-list' that has over 1650 members worldwide. http://www.trauma.org

WHO Guidelines for the Production, Control and Regulation of Snake Antivenom Immunoglobulins

This book includes information on the general and epidemiological background of venomous snakes, worldwide distribution of venomous snakes, antivenoms design, preparation, storage and quality control of venoms. The Guidelines can be downloaded as a PDF file. http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/snake_antivenoms/snakeantivenomguideline.pdf

WHO: Health Action in Crises (Focus on Low-Income Countries)

This site contains up-to-date information on the impact of wars and natural disasters on health throughout the world. It includes technical preparedness guides that contain topical public health information, emergency manuals and health and education tools. The site includes information specific to individual regions and countries. http://www.who.int/hac/en/

WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Users)

This tool assists first responders in hazardous material incidents. It provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information and containment and suppression advice. The tool is available via the Internet (WebWISER) and also can be downloaded as a standalone application on PCs and various smart phones and tablets http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov

World Wide Wounds

World Wide Wounds is a peer-reviewed e-journal for dressing materials and practical wound management information. The home page is divided into subject areas: acute wounds, diabetic feet, dressings and bandages, larval therapy, leg ulcers, and pressure sores. It also includes a keyword search engine. The site is published by the Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory, U.S. http://www.worldwidewounds.com/

Help us to improve Essential Health Links. Please send your comments and suggestions to: eh-links@healthnet.org