Disaster Medicine Student Elective
 

The University of New Mexico is pleased to offer an advanced sub-internship in Emergency Medicine, emphasizing principles of disaster medicine and practicing medicine under austere conditions (wilderness/international/prehospital). Students will have the opportunity to participate in ambulance calls, fixed wing flights, tactical medicine with the Albuquerque SWAT and Bomb Squad, and a drill with NMTF-1Urban Search and Rescue canine search team. Students will be trained in medical control, mass triage, patient decontamination, and will receive certification in ACLS (for experienced providers) and ADLS. They will be given the opportunity to complete training requirements for national DMAT and US&R teams. The sub-internship will also include shifts in the Emergency Department of the University of New Mexico, the only Level 1 trauma center in the state.

This session offered: October 12 thru November 8, 2009
(Applications for the 2009 course will be accepted beginning the last week in April)

• Follow this link for a view of last year's General Schedule 2008. We anticipate the 2009 schedule to be similar but not exactly the same.

• Follow this link to view the Ride Along Schedule 2008.

• Follow this link to the Application Page for more information on applying for the rotation.

    The Disaster Medicine Elective is made up of four major components:

New Mexico Task Force 1:  one of 28 national Urban Search and Rescue teams, NMTF-1 responded to both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center events in 2001.   They were deployed to both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.   UNM provides the medical direction for the team.  Students can complete the FEMA requirements for USAR membership, participate in the team management meeting and the team’s monthly drill, which may include confined space rescue, canine search, and technical search and rescue. 

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New Mexico Disaster Medical Assistant Team:  this was the first DMAT team created in the United States.  UNM provides medical direction for NM DMAT and the team has had multiple deployments, the most recent was in 2004 to Florida in response to the hurricane disasters.

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Albuquerque Police Department Bomb Squad and Tactical EMS teams:  UNM provides the medical direction for both teams.  Key issues in tactical medicine will be covered in lectures. A drill and tactical scenario will be coordinated by the Medical Director. Particularly interested students may be on call and observe these teams, but this will be an exception rather than a regular activity.

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Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council:  a volunteer organization which provides technical rescue capabilities to the wilderness areas surrounding the Albuquerque metropolitan area.  Drills and wilderness medicine training sessions are conducted monthly, and Dr. Darryl Macias (UNM) provides medical direction.

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Life Guard Fixed Wing Flight Program:   the only fixed wing program to serve Northern New Mexico, Life Guard flies approximately 80 flights per month.  UNM provides medical direction for the Life Guard flight program.  Students will be able to observe but not actively provide patient care.  The fixed wing program responds to healthcare facilities throughout New Mexico, as well as Arizona, Texas, Southern Colorado and Utah.  It also can participate in scene responses. 

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Certifications

ACLS for Experienced Providers
ADLS (Advanced Disaster Life Support)
ICS 100, 200, 700, (800 optional)
NFPA 1670: Water Rescue, Confined Space, Rope, Trench, Structural Collapse

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Reading List  

Textbook: Disaster Medicine, David E. Hogan and Jonathan L. Burstein (provided).

Primary Articles covering major topics in Disaster/Wilderness and International medicine.

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