How prepared are European healthcare practitioners for terrorist attacks such as the recent incidents in Paris, Brussels, London, Berlin, and Manchester?
That's the question posed this week at the meeting of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) in Vienna. To that end, the congress is calling for better medical training for orthopedic and trauma surgeons, and immediate care physicians to treat terror victims.
EFORT President Dr. Jan A.N. Verhaar, from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, plans to tell the 6,000 attendees they have a responsibility to serve communities by delivering the best care in the most urgent circumstances.
"We are not well enough prepared for terrorism in Europe and must greatly improve our knowledge of the many implications these acts of violence have on our work," Verhaar said in a prepared statement.
EFFORT members who have directly confronted the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and Israel have been invited to give presentations. By sharing the lessons they learned, they hope to help prepare their colleagues for the unexpected, unwanted, but real possibility of a terrorist attack, Verhaar added.
