title: Anaesthesia in a disaster zone: a report on the experience of an Australian medical team in Banda Aceh following the 'Boxing Day Tsunami'.
abstract: We report on the experience of a 23-member Australian medical team in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Arriving 13 days after the tsunami that devastated the city, killed 100,000 of its inhabitants and injured thousands more, we carried out 130 surgical procedures in austere conditions over a 12-day period. Most surgery was peripheral, principally for plastic surgical or orthopaedic procedures to lower limb injuries. Intravenous ketamine anaesthesia was the technique of choice, with good surgical conditions and few significant side-effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Paix
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Capps
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Neumeister
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Semple
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000778:Anesthetics, Dissociative; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D007391:International Cooperation; D007649:Ketamine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012066:Relief Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D000778:Anesthetics, Dissociative; D007649:Ketamine