The Development of Civilian Emergency Medical Care During an Insurgency: Current Status and Future Outlook in Iraq
Received 7 April 2009; received in revised form 30 July 2009, 8 September 2009 and 14 December 2009; accepted 30 December 2009. published online 25 January 2010. Corrected Proof
We review the development of civilian out-of-hospital and hospital-based emergency medical care in Iraq, focusing on the non-Kurdish regions. Emergency medicine in the country has made encouraging steps during the last several years, including the establishment of national emergency medicine policy, the training of out-of-hospital caregivers, the education of physicians currently working in Iraqi emergency departments, and the development of emergency medicine residency programs, among others. The utilization of a national Emergency Medicine Working Group has been a key resource in the development of emergency medicine in the country, a strategy we recommend to others aiding low- and middle-income nations.
aDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Address for correspondence: Ross I. Donaldson, MD, MPH, Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, 1000 West Carson Street, Box 21, Torrance, CA 90509; 310-222-3500, fax 310-782-1763
Supervising editor: Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH
Fundingand support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement. Support was provided by Iraq–Emergency Medicine Care Development (I-EMCD) and AusAID.
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