Annals of the MBC - Vol. 5 n- 4 - December 1992

The health professions are continually developing effective techniques of burns and mass casualty management. In parallel, fire prevention and fire-fighting techniques have developed considerably in most communities. It is therefore surprising that, while aiming at the same objective, the two sectors have rarely come together. The Mediterranean Bums Club is a professional organization that brings together persons concerned with burns therapy and with fire safety in all forms. Identified by the United Nations as premier scientific body in its field within the programme of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, it initiated the first international gathering of specialists in burns as a surgical, clinical problem, and of counterparts dealing with fires as a social, disaster problem. This novel approach and symbiosis proved timely and successful. This, the resulting book, reflects the commitment of all concerned to the reduction of fire disasters and the improvement of burns therapy,

Publication due December 1992 - ISBN 0-7923-8804-6 - 352 pp. -Price E 82.00, US$ 125.00, Dfl 200.00
Prehospital Emergency Medicine

Increasingly: emergency medical interventions on the site of an accident are coming to be known under the umbrella of Prehospital Medicine. The Journal of the World Association for Emergency and Disaster Medicine is entitled Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, and John Schou's book Prehospital Emergency Medicine now reinforces and conceptualizes this concept in a very readable and useful volume. As its subtitle notes, it presents "Challenges and options in rescue services- and practitioners of this art will want to have this guide in their library as well as in their emergency kit.
Virtually all the vital initial therapy in serious emergencies can be performed in situ. When carried out immediately and competently before transportation to hospital, such action increases the chances of safe arrival and of survival. Against the scoop and run- practices of ill-advised interventions, the book provides wise and raefical' guidance for better treatment on the spot. I support and correct transfer. Although most useful f6r the t MS paramedic and emergency physician, the guidelines will also help in-hospital emergency services.
This book is highly recommended.

In recent decades natural, technological and other disasters have been increasing in frequency and magnitude, and the involvem6nt, ~ of international organizations and professionals .11 from different disciplines has been growing I it! . parallel. Communication among these people'land an understanding of the varying terminology of the many professions and activities are paramount.
It is to this end that this multilingual, multidisciplinary Dictionary serves a.s.an invaluable tool for the disaster manager. More than,mere-definitions, the twelve hundred entries clearly' de4n~d here in fact establish the standard vo~'abul#ry, of disaster management in key languages'dnd, will be of great help to all those involved in emergency humanitarian endeavours. The UN General. Asserribly has declared the 1990s as the International, Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction; this book is a most valuable contribution to that initiative arid-"to the tasks of all those who strive to lighten the.burden of disasters.

The book is divided into four1anguage sections: English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Each section is divided into three parts:
Dictionary, Units and Measures, and Acronyms and 'Abbreviations.
The English section constitutes the in , ain, body of the work, each entry being defined and its ,equivalent given in French, Spanish and Arabic. The,term's are then listed alphabetically in the other languages, and their synonyms given in English, with,diNct cross-reference to the definition.

Published 1989 - ISBN: 089838-409-5 - 204, pp. - Hardback - Price C 56.00, US$ 97.50, Dfl 180.00