The new information package, designed primarily for physicians, includes easy-to-follow procedures for diagnosis and management of radiation contamination and exposure, use of radiation medical countermeasures and a variety of other features to facilitate medical responses.
The information is available on the Radiation Event Medical Management (REMM) Web site at http://remm.nlm.gov.
Guidance on diagnosis and treatment will help health care providers by describing radiation emergencies, initial medical actions at the incident site and or medical facility, and key steps in patient care.
Critical information is presented in a format that quickly guides health care providers during a mass casualty radiation event. In addition to online access, federal, state and local medical response teams will be able to download REMM information to laptop computers for quick access during a radiation incident or during training sessions. Users also can register for automatic e-mail updates whenever information is changed or added to the REMM Web site.
Future plans include formatting the REMM material for use on personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, additional multimedia graphics and more topical areas such as follow-up patient care of radiation's chronic effects.