© 2002 the Emergency Medicine Journal
EDITORIAL
Resources
Emergency medicine in differently resourced settings: what can we offer each other?
College of Medicine, Box 360, Blantyre, Malawi, C Africa
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr E Molyneux;
emolyneux@malawi.net
The provision of emergency medicine in Malawi is described and compared with that found in countries with more resources.
Keywords: resources
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Emergencies are as old as humanity. Specialised emergency care is relatively new. Emergency medicine in well resourced parts of the world has become increasingly complex, coordinated, and slick. Expectations of good practice from the public and from inpatient hospital colleagues are high. Experienced and specialised nursing and medical staff run excellent services with high patient turnover. Professional organisations representing emergency medicine make recommendations to government about staffing, training requirements, and back up services.
But what of the universal picture? In most resource poor areas of the world it is very different. There are no prehospital general practice services and no regular ambulance services. Health centres provide primary care. These are staffed by one "clinical officer" (a paramedic trained in diagnosis and treatment) and one or two nurses who have available a few basic drugs. Self referred and health centre referred patients attend district or central hospitals. In these hospitals
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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Wardrope, J, Driscoll, P
(2002). Challenges and changes. Emerg. Med. J.
19: 381-381
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