Revaluation of the Swedish Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear (CBRN) Program—Decontamination and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Abstract

s31over civilian populations at risk. Qualitative and quantitative methods need to be developed for measuring quality and effectiveness in the educational and reporting processes proposed in this model. Sweden is known for its high standards of preparation for chemical incidents. Resources on chemical incidents were allocated from the preparedness during the Cold War. Two main parts of the system are the personal protective equipment (PPE) and the mobile units for decontamination. One part includes the stationary decontamination units in hospitals. Studies have been performed on these parts of the program. The results are under evaluation and will be presented. The PPE has been tested in different ways, was found to resist chemicals for a limited time, and is recommended to be used in combination with the charcoal garment. The test procedure and the results will be presented.The Swedish healthcare system and Swedish rescue services use both stationary and mobile decontamination units. The stationary units have been studied earlier with results pinpointing the need of strict regime while performing decontamination to obtain good results. In the case of mobile units, a corresponding study has been performed. The results indicate that those units have limitations: the time to assemble the unit, the flow of patients through the unit, the technical problems, and, most importantly, the results in terms of decontamination efficiency.In light of the above results, a new strategy to handle causalities contaminated by chemicals is being located. Strict rules will be developed for when and how decontamination should be done. Smaller units to perform a fast decontamination will be created, as well as techniques to transport still-contaminated patients to a hospital, and a final decontamination will be performed before entering the hospital, which will be of no risk to ambulance personnel.