It is a specialist discipline concerned with providing care for people in so-called large-scale disaster situations: disaster medicine. Its global significance was highlighted in an exemplary manner at the 17th Summer Academy on ‘Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Aid’ in Ulm. A total of 80 participants learnt how to save lives under challenging conditions during the five-day event, through numerous specialist lectures and practical exercises.    

It is dark, smoky and very noisy. There is blood everywhere. The piercing cries of “Please help me” cut right to the bone. Now it is up to the doctors and paramedics to keep their cool and assess one casualty after another. The bad news is that it’s not easy, because first-aiders have just 20 seconds per casualty to categorise the severity of their injuries using triage cards for the emergency services arriving afterwards. Red indicates seriously injured people who need to be treated as quickly as possible, followed by yellow and then green, which is assigned to victims who are still able to walk. The good news: the train accident in a tunnel was a very realistic simulation, which took place in the sports hall of the Schubart Gymnasium in Ulm – as part of the 17th Summer Academy on ‘Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Aid’. Fifty-six medical students from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, all in their fifth semester (in the programme) or later, along with twelve doctors and twelve emergency service staff, took part in the event. The event was organised at the end of September by the Tübingen-based Foundation of the German Institute for Disaster Medicine in collaboration with Ulm University – marking the 13th time it has been held in this city on the Danube. 

Experienced speakers with extensive experience of overseas missions The
aim of the Summer Academy, which has been running since 2010, is to prepare students and medical professionals even better for crises and disasters. Only in this way can the swiftest and most adequate initial care for the affected population be ensured. “The idea is to provide training on national specifics, specialised medical procedures and the challenges of international missions within a compact one-week training programme,” said Dr Stefan Gromer, founder and managing director of the Foundation and the Institute for Disaster Medicine. The topics covered included care in disaster medicine settings, legal frameworks, guidelines, ethics, psychological first aid, leadership training and hospital emergency planning, and were delivered by speakers with many years’ experience working abroad and in development aid.

In addition to a screening test involving 14 pupils from Schubart Gymnasium and a practical obstacle course on technical rescue operations at the Technisches Hilfswerk (THW) in Ulm, the participants were trained at Ulm University’s Training Hospital (TTU) in, amongst other things, airway management and the use of tourniquets, pelvic slings and chest drains.  

Assessing the health situation beforehand is crucial
In the second part of the summer academy, the various concepts of humanitarian aid – which is provided over a period of up to three months – were explained. “It primarily involves direct life-saving measures following a natural disaster of any kind that has completely or partially deprived the affected population of the means to survive,” said Dr Johannes Schad, Medical Director of the Foundation of the German Institute for Disaster Medicine. In addition to the medical measures presented at the Summer Academy, such as the setting up of mobile clinics or field hospitals, Schad noted that other specialist areas – such as the construction of temporary shelters or, even more importantly, the provision of drinking water and mobile toilets – form an integral part of humanitarian aid: “It is also very important that any potential deployment is always preceded by an initial health situation analysis and an expert assessment. Only in this way can a situation-appropriate assessment be made to determine which resources are best suited to the task,” emphasised the general surgeon and emergency doctor. The status of the programme of lectures in the ‘Humanitarian Aid’ section was as follows: topics such as disaster pharmacy, nursing in disaster and conflict contexts, security aspects in humanitarian aid, and civil-military cooperation.

At the end of the event, Dr Stefan Gromer was delighted with the positive feedback from participants who, once again, were highly motivated and eager to learn: “This makes it easy to start planning the next Summer Academy. This year’s venue was something truly special.” Ulm University’s modern training and teaching hospital, ‘To train U’, was received with enthusiasm by the participants, speakers and the organising team, according to the foundation’s founder, Gromer: “This provided ideal opportunities for combining theory and practice during this year’s Summer Academy.” 

The content of the medical further training week is based on the ‘Concept for Disaster Medicine Training in Undergraduate Education at German Universities’. This was drawn up under the leadership of two renowned disaster medicine specialists, Professor Bernd Domres (University of Tübingen) and Professor Ernst Pfenninger (Ulm University). 

Further information: Press
Office of the Foundation of the German Institute for Disaster Medicine
Email: presse(at)stiftung-km.de

Websites: German Institute for Disaster Medicine;
Foundation of the German Institute for Disaster Medicine 

The programme is available as a PDF here! 

Text: Stefan Löffler

All photos: Martina Hopfengärtner / Foundation of the German Institute for Disaster Medicine