[Prehospital medical care organization during the 2003 G8 summit: a new concept of Mobile Medical Squadrons (MMS)].
OBJECTIVE
The occurrence of the 2003 G8 summit in Evian and the threat of major civil riots or even terrorist attacks in the Swiss neighbourhood forced us to imagine a new system of rescue and medical care in case of numerous victims. Previous occurrences of the G8 in Europe or America have demonstrated the need of flexible and mobile structures, able to respond quickly to crowd movements, unlike the usual static structure of rescue systems designed for major accidents.


METHODS
We developed a new concept of Mobile Medical Squadrons (MMS) consisting of several vehicles and medical care and rescue human resources. In our concept, each MMS consisted of 3 emergency doctors, 5 paramedics and 9 first-aid workers. They were designed to handle 15 patients, with a large autonomy in terms of rescue, medical care, evacuation and medical authority. The equipment included medical, resuscitation, simple decontamination, evacuation and communication materials.


RESULTS
The MMS were dispatched four times during the G8 summit following civil riots. They took care of 12 injured patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The concept of MMS as a reinforcement of the existing rescue and health care resources appears as a new flexible, a modular and useful concept for the medical management of collective prehospital emergency situations. Its use is suggested instead of the traditional static concept of rescue systems designed for major accidents.
Carron
P-N
PN
Centre interdisciplinaire des urgences, centre hospitalier universitaire Vaudois, 1011 Lausanne, Suisse. Pierre-Nicolas.Carron@hospvd.ch
Yersin
B
B
Fishman
D
D
Ribordy
V
V
D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians; D006285:Health Planning; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians; D012151:Resuscitation; D013557:Switzerland; D023481:Terrorism; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D000078329:Workforce