Rescue chain
The rescue chain shows which stations an emergency patient goes through from alerting the emergency services to arriving at the hospital's emergency room . Despite the same basic principle, the representation of the rescue chain can differ significantly depending on the source. A (detailed) chain of rescue goes something like this:
- Security, self-protection
- Alerting
- first aid
- Other necessary treatments
- Stabilize the patient, create transportability
- Transport to the hospital
- Treatment in the emergency room
- Intensive care unit
The symbol of the chain has been chosen deliberately: a chain always breaks at its weakest point. In order to guarantee the best possible chance of survival or the most complete healing possible, every element in the rescue chain depends on both the preceding and the following activities being carried out optimally and without delay.
It follows that the rapid alerting and first aid by lay rescuers are of the utmost importance - for example, emergency doctors and rescue services can no longer remedy the consequences of delayed or missed cardiopulmonary resuscitation . A rare but relevant conclusion in disasters and other MANV situations is that the request for transport, transport preparation and transport to a clinic makes little sense if the next link in the chain - the clinic's emergency rooms - does not have free capacity .
Securing through the individual links
The use of first aid apps ensures that first aid can be provided by competent first aiders before the emergency services arrive.
In some federal states, rescue points have been defined as approach points for rescue vehicles, signposted in the area and recorded in hiking maps. They should facilitate the more precise reporting of an emergency location and ensure that emergency vehicles can find it without delay. They are marked with plates on which a reference code is given. This means that forest workers or hikers who have had an accident can be supplied more quickly.
In Switzerland there are five links in the chain: emergency aid, emergency call, first aid, transport and hospital. The term rescue chain also often appears in questions about obtaining a driver's license. When answering, it is advisable to adhere to the given documents and not to refer to innovations of the emergency services that have not yet been addressed in this question.
Rescue chain in the Bundeswehr
In the Bundeswehr , the term rescue chain is also used in connection with the care of sick, injured or wounded patients. The aim of this is to achieve the same quality of treatment as in Germany along four treatment levels when the Bundeswehr is deployed abroad in the context of medical care. Depending on the severity of the illness or injury, the patient goes through these levels partially or completely. In the Bundeswehr, the term “ role ” with the relevant numbering is also used instead of the term “treatment level” .
First floor
First aid through self and comrade help forms the beginning of the rescue chain. Patrols that are either of a certain size, are located a certain distance away from the nearest inpatient treatment facility or are subject to a particular risk due to the order, can be provided as an additional medical service element by a mobile medical team or a medical team . Within certain associations or in some missions, the ability of treatment level 1 is expanded by a rescue station or an airborne rescue station . In these facilities, sighting, shock and pain relief, hemostatic measures as well as keeping the airways free and ventilation by the medical staff take place.
second level
This level of treatment is represented in the Bundeswehr medical service by a rescue center or an airborne rescue center. Emergency diagnostics and therapy are ensured here. It has the capability of acute medical care, including X-ray diagnostics , laboratory, intensive care unit and operating theater . In addition to surgeons and anesthetists, a number of medical assistants are available for this.
Third level
If it is foreseeable that the Bundeswehr will be commissioned to remain in a deployment country for longer than a year and if the respective troop contingent is large enough, a level 3 care facility will be set up on a regular basis. In these field or emergency hospitals, patients receive outpatient and inpatient specialist care. It has advanced surgical, intensive care and specialist diagnostics and therapy to ensure a direct return to Germany if necessary.
Fourth level
The armed forces hospitals are primarily available with the fourth treatment stage. Civilian hospitals and rehabilitation facilities are used if necessary. After the patient is returned from a country of assignment, the necessary further treatment and therapy is carried out in these facilities. The goal is full recovery or rehabilitation.
See also
literature
- General Secretariat of the Austrian Red Cross (Ed.): First Aid - Immediate life-saving measures at the scene of an accident , Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-902332-07-7
Web links
- The rescue chain - medical service in action (PDF; 326 kB)
