P. Safar - Böcker

The First European Congress of Anesthesiology in Vienna, Austria in September, 1962 presented 19 Symposium discussions, each lasting approximately 3 hours. Unlike most of these panels, the one on Resuscitation was a free discussion on controversial topics, without presentation of formal papers. In spite of the spontaneity of the unrehearsed questions and ans­ wers, the participants feit that an edited version of this Symposium should be published. The reasons for publication included the inter­ national character of the group of participants and the recent general interest in respiratory and circulatory resuscitation. A presentation of accepted resuscitation techniques was omitted, because of lack of time and because the Symposium was held pri­ marily for trained anesthesiologists, most of whom have first-hand experience with resuscitation and should be familiar with the accepted modern methods. Only controversial topics, which seemed to be of interest to those with personal experience in the application and the research of resuscitation, were included.

Emergency care is improving throughout the world and thousands of lives are being saved each year. However, there are still too many patients who die before help reaches them in the form of advanced rescue and definitive emergency care techniques. In an effort to improve emergency care throughout the world, the International Committee of Emergency and Disaster Medicine meets bi­ annually. This meeting takes place in Mainz, Germany in September in order to discuss issues, exchange information, and establish re­ commendations designed to improve emergency care. The group is in~ dependent of political, national, racial, religious, or commercial influences and, in this sense, similar to the Club of Rome which attempts advances in sociology, biology and natural sciences. There­ fore, the organization could be called the "Club of Mainz" for the field of emergency and disaster medicine. The following book contains the proceedings of the International Symposiom on "Mobile Intensive Care Units and Advanced Emergency Care Units" at Mainz from September 24-27, 1973, and the discussions evoked by the first activities of the "Club of Mainz" and the inter­ nationally acknowledged "Recommendations". At this time we also announce the next meeting and International Symposium on Disaster Medicine, open to the public, organized by the "Club of Mainz" (October 1 - 2, 1977).

F.A. Bauhofer, Geneva In disaster situations, the particular concern of WHO is not so much to offer immediate relief and assistance for affected communities, but to have ready prepared plans for the provision of primary medical care as well as for resuscitation and casualty services. Disast­ ers are characterized by a need for rapid assistance and by the inability of affected communities to cope with the large scale mortality, morbidity, and damage to essential installations and homes. In some highly elaborate and centralized societies even small­ scale events may assume the proportion of a disaster, if they result in the serious break­ down of vital services. The Executive Board of the World Health Organization has defmed disasters or "emergencies", as situations where there are unforeseen, serious, and immediate threats to public health. Particularly severe disasters may be classified as catastrophes; such -occurrences, whether natural or man-made, disturb or overthrow the existing order. For planning purposes, it is important to distinguish between different types of catastrophes since they require special relief measures. In the past, medical assistance was primarily needed in epidemics of, for example, plague, cholera, and smallpox. Today, health authorities face emergency problems brought about by major accidents and outbreaks of chemical pollution and poisoning, which may have long-term effects. The role of health services may differ quite extenSively in different types of cata­ strophes, and an attempt must be made to draw up specific plans to deal with them.