decontamination in a shtf situation

[medicmark]

Hi all,
latest guidance for emergency decon is to do dry decon.
heres a video from NARU the national ambulance resilience unit.

https://naru.org.uk/videos/ior-nhs/

any questions give me a shout as its one of my jobs.
Mark

[Yorkshire Andy]

Well we got a delivery of blue roll at work yesterday.... sorted

[Jamesey1981]

Not sure blue roll will do it, I've got some aloe vera wet wipes in to make sure.

[SooBee]

Thanks Mark for the link. Some clear changes to old teaching. I did Provost training in my youth and contamination/decontamination was part of the NBC course. It was very primitive in those days. I can fully see how reducing the dust, spray etc. by removal of clothing early on and dry wiping will help. Where a few patients would be not too hard to clean up quickly the thought of long queues needs some thought and at least this method reduces the problem by giving the queues a chance to start things off for themselves.

How well are the staff in the average local GP surgery trained in Hazmat nowadays?

[medicmark]

Not sure blue roll will do it, I've got some aloe vera wet wipes in to make sure.

As it now states the go to decon technique is dry. However the absolute contradiction to this is if the substance burns, could be radioactive etc then you need full on water decontamination.

Mark.

[medicmark]

Thanks Mark for the link. Some clear changes to old teaching. I did Provost training in my youth and contamination/decontamination was part of the NBC course. It was very primitive in those days. I can fully see how reducing the dust, spray etc. by removal of clothing early on and dry wiping will help. Where a few patients would be not too hard to clean up quickly the thought of long queues needs some thought and at least this method reduces the problem by giving the queues a chance to start things off for themselves.

How well are the staff in the average local GP surgery trained in Hazmat nowadays?

No problem my friend, very different from the initial post 9/11 squirt water on everything contaminated.
for all contamination incidents 80 - 90 % is on the clothes anyway so it always made sense get stripped off ASAP, wipe/blot skin on hands/face etc, blow your nose and then wash out your eyes.

From first hand experience, back in 2008 we held the biggest CBRNE exercise with live casualties in the U.K,Exercise Golden Knight, we where placed 3rd in the uk, behind 2 military hospitals ( so that was fair).

we triaged/deconned/ treated 25 people in under 1 hour, does not sound a lot but considering for the exercise I had a team of 6 and basically a blow up tent and 2 garden hoses we did exceptionally.

I have to say I am in 2 minds about the updates.
1 these have been introduced in austere times, is it the best or is it cost/resource based?
2 it does give some flexibility and reduces waste of equipment/resources.
3 very easy to do, no special kit needed- ideal for preppers and first responders.
4 could cause issues as not everyone has a dosimeter/ramgene in there kit to check for exposure- using latest protocol may need to resort to wet decon until sure and this could cause delays.

In theory every walk in centre/g.p/hospital or even building with NHS logo should have protocol for dry decon and the kit, in these worrying times I would not like to put it to the test.

Mark

[SooBee]

Thank you Mark. I shall make sure it comes into conversations hereabouts.