Online Help Available During Radiation Emergencies

A new web site has been developed by planners, physicians, radiation specialists, and other experts to help medical responders handle radiation contamination following a nuclear explosion, dirty bomb, or other devices.

The Radiation Event Medical Management (REMM) offers a solution to this challenge by a series of decision-tree algorithms for the non-expert physician to follow at the scene. Because access to the Internet may be compromised during an emergency, the core of REMM also comes in the form of a diagnostic and treatment toolkit that can be downloaded in advance and stored on a local computer or storage device.

To develop REMM, a content team assembled by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM, Bethesda, MD, USA) gathered guidelines, protocols, procedures, and background from scores of sources, both inside and outside of the U.S. federal government, and from scientific sources outside the United States. The initial website was reviewed by some 50 subject specialists from around the world and is continuously being enhanced.

The REMM website was developed by the NLM in conjunction with the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, Washington, DC, USA), and in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI, Bethesda, MD, USA). Several of the key personnel on the project are on loan from the NCI, including team leader Dr. Norman Coleman of NCI's Radiation Research Program.

"REMM was established to provide just-in-time information and guidance on diagnosis and treatment to health care providers - primarily physicians - who do not have formal radiation medicine expertise,” said Dr. Coleman.


Related Links:
Radiation Event Medical Management
U.S. National Library of Medicine
National Cancer Institute