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Paediatric Anaesthesia in Afghanistan: a Review of the Current Experience
  1. Lt Col Giles R Nordmann, BSc(Hons) MBChB FRCA RAMC, Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist1
  1. 1MDHU Derriford; Consultant Anaesthetist, 16 Medical Regiment; Research Fellow, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
  1. MDHU Derriford, Plymouth 01822 853334 nordmann{at}waitrose.com

Abstract

This paper describes the author’s experience of the paediatric patient load on the UK medical services in Afghanistan. Over a 3 month period there was a mean of 2.9 paediatric trauma admissions per week, mean age was 6.8 years with gunshot wound or explosive injury being the mechanisms of injury in 77% of the trauma admissions. Overall these children represented 10.8% of the surgical workload. Some of the issues of paediatric anaesthesia in this environment are discussed including paediatric equipment, resuscitation for paediatric massive haemorrhage and regional anaesthesia. The need to formally recognise the problem in training and equipping deployed medical personnel to deal with this challenge is examined.

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