Management of Chemical Warfare Injuries

The threat of use of chemical warfare agents (agents of "mass-destruction") is no longer confined to battlefield. Agent releases by terrorists in Japan in 1995 served to waken the world to the dangers faced by civilian communities far removed from centers of armed conflict. The ability to save lives in the event of a chemical agent release turns on provision of immediate and correct medical care in the field and hospital. Being able to ensure availability of life-saving care depends on reaching both military and civilian medical personnel with information on chemical warfare agents and on keeping their skills and knowledge current. While this is of critical importance both to the Department of Defense and to civilian agencies charged with protecting the public, it also is a daunting and potentially expensive task in view of the numbers and geographic dispersion of persons to be trained. The Department of Defense has addressed and overcome these challenges to the benefit of the military and civilians by using computer technology as the vehicle by which cost-effective chemical warfare agent training may be conveniently delivered to all who require it.

The mulit-media instructional program, Management of Chemical Warfare Injuries, was developed for military use by the Naval Health Sciences Education and Training Command with the technical assistance of the U.S. Army Medical Command. It was originally designed for delivery via video disc, a format used extensively within the Navy. However, in response to a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense agreed to repackage the materials for delivery on CD-ROM in order to make them accessible to a larger audience. In addition, the Navy agreed to include on the two CD-ROMs which contain the program, a ready reference not found on the video disc: the Army's "Medical Management of Chemical Casualties" handbooks for field and medical personnel.

This inter-agency cooperation has resulted in a timely program that presents medical treatment protocols followed by all branches of the U.S. military. These protocols are equally applicable to civilian physicians, nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The unique training, released in October 1996, provides:

• technical information on chemical warfare agents (i.e., nerve, blister, lung and riot control agents, and cyanides),
  
• self-tests for evaluating mastery of key learning objectives,
  
• dramatized scenarios offering opportunities for practicing differential diagnoses of patients, and
  
• extensive reference materials.

To guarantee the training program is readily and easily available, it is being distributed through the federal government's National Audiovisual Center (NAC). Parties interested in obtaining copies of the program may contact the NAC by mail (National Technical Information Service; 5285 Port Royal Road; Springfield, VA 22161), by phone during the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST (703/487-4630; TDD [hearing impaired only] (703/487-4639), by FAX (703/321-8547) or via the Internet (ntis.fedworld.gov).